Gaming's Next Generation: Heroes vs Villains
by Child at Heart Forever
Summary: By the start of the second semester, Villain Prep's success has increased, with new classes, teachers, and students, and they plan to show Hero High that they mean business in a way that only schools can...but Hero High's not gonna taking it lying down, even if there may be a slight snag in their system...
1. Start of the Second Semester

**Hello, one and all! This is the sequel to Gaming's Next Generation, so if you haven't read the previous story, go read that first, because this one will be spoilerific and hard to understand at some parts. **

**And also? This story is nowhere near as cheesy as the previous one! This one is loads more heavy later on, so...just be ready.**

**This story contains OCs in a high school setting! If either of those things isn't to your liking, then turn back now! Otherwise, without further ado, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Gaming's Next Generation: Heroes vs Villains

Part 1: The Start of the Second Semester

The bright, welcoming morning sun had no effect on the green clad plumber known as Luigi, for he was grumbling to himself as he paced into the hall of a school, a suitcase clutched firmly in his hand. School technically wasn't supposed to start for another five minutes, but if the principal hadn't been hogging the shower that morning…

Luigi entered said principal's office, hardly expecting to find him there, but a smile did lurk onto his face when the school's relatively new secretary spun around in her chair and greeted Luigi with an eager grin.

"Good morning, Mister Mario!" exclaimed a girl with blindingly black hair, a red beret, and a sea-green smock. Oddly, instead of working at a computer like most secretaries would, she instead had a huge tablet of paper in front of her, a palette of paint colors, and a paintbrush in hand. A few drops had splattered to the floor when she turned to greet Luigi, but it seemed to completely go unnoticed by her.

"Morning, Adeleine," Luigi nodded back, tipping his hat in her direction with his free hand. "I just came to pick up my papers. I would've been a bit more prompt, but I was running late thanks to…uncontrollable forces."

"I know what'cha mean," Adeleine replied with a wink, spinning back around to face the desk and scooping up a green folder of papers. "The principal was looking a bit sheepish when he walked in today…"

"I bet he was," Luigi murmured afterward, accepting the folder and bidding Adeleine goodbye. Adeleine returned the favor, then went back to work…painting lifelike pictures.

Luigi jogged at a hastened pace down the hallway, hoping to at least be in the room before the bell went off, mumbling all the way there.

"I'm so looking forward to today…"

Despite the sarcastic tone, Luigi actually did want to look forward to today. After a four day weekend signaling the end of the first half of the school year, the second half was set to begin, and he was actually looking forward to seeing the students again. The day itself was set to be interesting as well, since some of the students' schedules would be swapped around, the teachers would have new things to show, and rumors were that there was a new student, but the principal wouldn't disclose the information to anyone.

Not even to his own brother.

Well, Luigi was going to find out today, and no longer would Mario be able to harbor a dirty little secret. Although, not even the new student was the most prominent thing on Luigi's mind…

He smiled to himself and opened the door to his classroom, Heroic Basics, seeing the usual sight of the children throwing themselves at each other. It was nowhere near as hostile or chaotic as the very first day of school, but Luigi still wished that he could walk in on a normal class one day.

"Good morning, Mister Mario," said a dirty-blonde haired boy sporting royal blue garb. Luigi grinned and waved in the boy's direction.

"Good morning, Damien. I'm surprised you're not at my desk trying to maintain control."

"I've tried," Damien Hyrule said with a groan, shaking his head. "But my insane sister decided that an arm wrestling tournament before school started was a great idea, and naturally everyone went with her…I left you an apple, by the way."

"Thank you, Damien," Luigi stated, proceeding to sit at his desk and take a bite out of aforementioned apple. Glancing up, he saw that several desks had been pushed to the back of the class, with a boy in black and purple arm wrestling a blue-furred fox, and a tomboyish psychic doing the same against a girl wearing a black and green zero suit. Surrounding them was an orange puff ball jumping up and down and cheering, a four-quilled purple hedgehog encouraging the girl in black and green, a girl in pink and white standing behind the punk in purple, and a smaller blonde girl garbed in pink adventurer's clothes going absolutely wild.

Obviously, the tournament idea belonged to her.

The only students that were in desks were Damien, a pink-winged angel sitting behind him and running her fingers through her curly caramel-brown hair, an orange frog sporting a cap, a tall gray rabbit in a pink jumpsuit, a green star-like creature with a propeller beanie, a boy with a blue tuft of hair and a big nose, and with another glance, he realized that the new student rumors were true.

Except, that there were _two_ students he didn't recognize, instead of just the one he had anticipated.

Luigi was about to make small talk with the new students, but the bell suddenly rang, signaling the start of the day. Within the blink of an eye, all the desks had been whipped back into place and all the arm wrestling students had jumped into their seats.

"…wow, nice hustle you guys," Luigi whistled.

"We've gotten really good at it," the orange puff ball replied with a grin. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"…I suppose, Coby," Luigi stated, beginning to shuffle some papers. "Anyway, let's waste no time. My name is Mr. Mario, but you may call me Luigi if that feels more comfortable. And I only say that because of our new students."

Upon having attention drawn to them, one of the students pulled a blue cap over his face, while the other boy gave a devious smirk, to which the tomboyish girl proceeded to roll her eyes.

"And also because of this, we're all going to have to introduce ourselves so we can get to know each other. When I call your name, just state your relations, and I'm sure our new friends will get a pretty good idea of who you are. But please keep it brief..."

The class simply murmured in reply.

"Right then; Angelina?"

"That's me," Angelina replied, being the pink-winged angel. "I am Pit's successor, and also serve Goddess Palutena."

"Coby's here…"

"Yup!" cheered the orange blob. "I'm Kirby and Meta Knight's apprentice, destined to repel an evil that will one day rain down upon the Planet Popstar-"

"-Elysia Aran-Higgs?"

"Here as always!" exclaimed the tan-skinned girl in the zero suit, smiling at Luigi and referring to her perfect attendance record. "I am Samus Aran's daughter, and I'm going to be a bounty hunter just like her! …well, maybe. I dunno if I could handle blowing up planets left and right."

"D-"

"Here," Damien said instantaneously, and Luigi gave him a look. "…what? I apologize for having remembered the attendance order by now. Anyway, I am the crown prince of Hyrule, son of Queen Zelda and the Chosen Hero Link…I'm next in line for the throne!"

"Whoop-de-doo," whistled the second new kid. Damien scowled as his sister burst into laughter.

"Heh, I like him already!"

"I bet you do Zelda," Luigi sighed, hand placed to his forehead. "Tell him who you are."

Zelda started to stand up.

"_Without_ standing on your desk, please."

Huffing, Zelda leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. "Yeah, my description's pretty much the same as Damien's, except I'm not in line for the throne; therefore I'm going to be the first female to enlist in Hyrule's royal guard. That way, I can kick butt and still have a say in politics!"

Luigi shuddered at the thought of Zelda having any say in the government.

"Brr…anyway, continuing, Lulu Hare?"

"Present," stated the gray rabbit in pink, waving at the new students. "I am the granddaughter of Peppy Hare, and one day I'll be an official member of Star Fox!"

"Junichi the Hedgehog?"

"I'm here," mumbled the purple hedgehog, shying away from the smug expression of the new kid. "I was adopted by Amy Rose, and…one day I wanna be like Sonic, that's all."

"You wanna be like Sonic?" sneered the second new child once again. "Sonic's hyperactive, off the wall, and throws himself into danger! You act like everything's out to get you."

"I do _not_," Junichi huffed back, facing the new kid with an angry look. He was somewhat surprised when Junichi's eyes went from a dull gray to a ghastly purple, but that wasn't anywhere_ near_ as terrifying as the look on Elysia's face.

"I'm not supposed to defend him anymore, but I'm not gonna stand down while my best friend is being insulted," she hissed, and the second new student literally screamed when a set of Metroid teeth made themselves painstakingly prominent.

"Augh, what the heck?! Freaks!"

"My goodness," uttered the first new student, abruptly shaking his head. "You certainly don't waste an opportunity to be blunt, do you?"

"Dudes, it's best not to mess with them," interrupted the punk in purple. "Trust me, been there, done that, and almost had the life sucked outta me."

The second new kid gulped as Elysia retracted her fangs and Junichi's eyes returned back to grey. He was noticeably shaking…along with Luigi.

"I hate when you guys get like that," he mumbled under his breath. Elysia and Junichi both looked sheepish.

"Erm…sorry."

"I know you two can't really help it, though," Luigi stated, trying to calm himself down

"Well, my sessions with Shadow on controlling my powers have done wonders," Junichi admitted. "I guess Mom had the right idea when she suggested it."

"Wish I could control mine," Elysia sighed sadly, hanging her head.

"Seriously, don't make her angry," the punk whispered to the new kids. "You'll die."

"Anyway, steering away from all this nightmare fuel," Luigi exasperated, whipping out the paper once more. "Marcus McCloud?"

"Future leader of Team Star Fox, at your service!" exclaimed the blue furred fox, giving Luigi a salute. "Needless to say, I'm Fox and Krystal's son, and I'm one heck of an ace pilot!"

"Alph?"

"I'm here," murmured the boy with the blue hair, shyly looking around. "I'm a friend of Captain Olimar, and I haven't been here as long as the other students, but I've still learned a lot and made plenty of friends!"

"Like me!" exclaimed Marcus from behind, giving Alph a thumbs up. Alph smiled back, with the new kid still looking rather indifferent and Luigi continuing on with the attendance.

"Pink?"

The girl sporting preppy pink and white clothes excitedly raised her hand.

"I'm the cousin of Pokemon Trainer Red, and I'm from the Unova region! I also specialize in Psychic-type Pokemon, and aspire to be an Ace Trainer."

"Purple?"

"Of course," the purple punk replied with a smirk, aloofly raising his hand. "I'm a Pokemon Trainer from the same region as Pink, and_ I_ train Poison-type Pokemon."

"Which still unsettles me," Luigi murmured, moving on. "Skippy Toad?"

"Me, me, me!" cried the orange toad, rapidly waving his arms. "I'm one of Slippy's sons, and I'm going to be a part of Team Star Fox one day as well!"

"Luke Triton?"

"Here and present, sir!" exclaimed the first new student, happily adjusting his blue cap. "I am apprentice number one to the esteemed Professor Layton, and I received the scholarship to come here at the beginning, but…I couldn't arrive until now."

"Ah, the Professor…" trailed Luigi, looking thoughtful. "I believe the principal originally wanted him to teach history here, but he declined. Do you know why?"

"Most likely because he's already a professor at Gressenheller University, and it's a position that's very important to him, and I doubt he'd want to give it up so easily," Luke explained. "I don't know for sure though- it's been…quite a while since I've actually seen him."

"Fair enough, Luke- I was just curious," Luigi replied with a smile, and Luke attempted to give one back, but it was easy to see that something was bugging him now. Nevertheless, Luigi continued with roll call.

"Starlos?"

"Here," said the green star with the propeller cap. "I'm the Legendary Starfy's nephew, and I go to this school so I can be legendary like him, but we all know that's not going to happen."

The second new student once again opened his mouth to make a smart reply, but the tomboyish girl instantly whirled around and ordered him into silence. Luigi noticed the display and raised an eyebrow.

"Tenn?"

"I don't need to introduce myself to him," Tenn muttered, returning back to her original orientation in her seat, though still glaring at the boy over her shoulder. "After all, he _is_ my obnoxious little _brother_."

"I resent that," the boy stated casually, until Luigi finally turned to him.

"Hmm…it appears that you're not on my list. Are you supposed to be here?"

"Unfortunately, yes," the student sighed, looking unsettlingly apathetic.

As if on cue, Adeleine burst through the doors, tossing a revised list to Luigi. It fluttered over to Luigi, with the plumber struggling to catch it the first few times.

"So sorry Mr. Mario! I forgot to put the new list in your folder. You were originally supposed to only get Luke, but Tenn's brother here was a…um, well, rather abrupt addition."

Adeleine was out of the room as fast as she appeared, leaving Luigi gaping at the list and the unexpected student.

"…Anyway, now that you're familiar with the other students, how about telling us about yourself?"

"Yeah, let's finally hear a name!" exclaimed Angelina.

"Fine, fine," the boy with a red, white, and blue striped shirt complained, shuffling his blue shoes on the ground. "Name's Ninty, and as you already know, I'm Tenn's little brother. I'm the far superior child of Ninten and Ana."

"Ha, all he knows is defensive PSI," Tenn explained acidly. Ninty glared back.

"Hey, I know an offensive move, just like how you know one defensive move!"

"I thought one brother-sister conflict was all I was going to have to deal with…" groaned Luigi, glancing over at Damien and Zelda, who were lightly bickering in the background. Sighing, he turned back to Tenn and Ninty and cued them to be quiet. Then, he asked, "Ninty, how come you didn't join us at the start of the school year?"

"My parents wanted to see if I was mature enough," Ninty explained. "Finally I explained to them using several methods that I should attend a school for training the next generation, and they decided to plunk me into Hero High."

"I don't think he is, but no one ever listens to me," grunted Tenn, fiddling with her golfing visor.

"Well, thank goodness attendance is over- now we can start with important things," Luigi stated, placing the papers off to the side. "Before we begin our unit on "Reasons Why Heroes are Heroes", with a one thousand word paper chronicling an idol of yours-"

Cue loud unanimous groan- minus Luke, who actually seemed thrilled.

"-I want to discuss the Power Ball match that will be happening this evening."

The class stopped groaning and instantly became excited.

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot that was today!" cried Tenn, much happier than she'd been before.

"Cheerleading, baby!" whooped Angelina, exchanging a high five with Pink.

"It's our last match, and we're currently undefeated," Damien added, a hint of smugness in his voice.

"I hate Power Ball," Zelda said with a pout.

"Maybe, but at least you've improved!" Coby explained, bouncing over and patting her shoulder.

"I saw the posters in the hallway- I can't wait to go to the game!" Luke exclaimed.

"You can sit with us!" called out Marcus and Alph, waving happily.

"Okay, sure!"

In the midst of all the excitement, Ninty could only sit in his chair in the middle of the room and blink curiously.

"What's Power Ball?"

The class fell silent, and Ninty felt his face go red. Luigi stood up and proceeded to scoop up a piece of chalk.

"Now class, it's perfectly normal for him to not know what it is- after all, Sonic came up with the concept," Luigi stated, adding the last bit with a hint of distaste. Regardless, he started drawing a layout of the gym, with five people on each side of the court. "Power Ball is a combination of dodgeball and soccer, so to speak- you have to get the ball in a goal net, but you also have to do so without getting hit by said ball and you can't cross the line in the middle of the court. You can only use special or physical attacks, no weapons, to hit the ball. Any other contact results in an out."

"Usually, it's the first team to get rid of all the other team's members or have the most amount of points at the end of the match to score a win," Damien enlightened. "But during the tournament, it's the first team to reach a set number of points or remove all the opposing players in a best two out of three match, in a similar way to volleyball. And while you can still get out, there are ways to get back in the game. It's much more engaging than the version we play during gym sometimes."

"…sounds really complicated," Ninty finally muttered. "But it sounds cool. I wanna play in the match."

"Sorry squirt, you can't," Tenn stated with a grin. "We've had the same team throughout the year, and the only way you could possibly play is if you were a replacement."

"Well then, I wanna be a replacement."

"You'll have to talk to Sonic for that- he's the coach, along with Shadow," Luigi stated. "But you won't get that chance until third hour."

Ninty knew he wouldn't get any farther into this conversation and fell silent, with everyone still buzzing about the game. During all this, Alph suddenly became thoughtful.

"Hey…isn't this an away game?" he asked, and after thinking it over, Luigi nodded.

"Then where are we going?" wondered Lulu. The collective buzzing dimmed down in volume upon realizing that they didn't know the answer either. Luigi had to dig out the sports schedule and skim it over, blanching when he came across the final date.

"Oh, Mama Mia…"

**First Period in an Another School-**

In a school that was much less bright and spontaneous than Hero High, the homeroom class was filled with irritable students, all of them unable to sit still. A wolf in a purple jumpsuit was yelling at the resident nerd, and said nerd was scowling right back and lashing out with intelligent insults. Backing him up was a girl with blazing red hair and of Gerudo descent, alongside a Koopa child and an older-looking girl with hair that had a life of its own. Staying completely out of the conflict was an albino monkey and a small blue-colored, green-wearing penguin, and joined by them was a persnickety girl with a pixie-styled haircut, a sophisticated boy garbed in silver, a teenaged boy in a battle suit, and a chubby girl that was shoving a hotdog into her face.

"…for the last time Darcy, I've had enough of your attitude!" shouted the "nerd", but that term only suited him in response to his intelligence. He was actually rather attractive and well-liked, and even had one (if not two) girls chasing after him.

Darcy, the purple-wearing wolf, simply sneered and huffed back to her seat.

"Whatever, if you want to let Villain Prep down, then feel free. You won't be Mister Popular after that, and our downfall will be your fault!"

"…what are they even arguing about?" snorted the boy in the battle suit, glaring curiously.

"The Power Ball match that we're having against Hero High tonight," stated the albino monkey. "Darcy isn't able to play, and since Connor is the only person that's not already on the team or a replacement, she's trying to get him to take her place."

"But Connor can't play," pointed out the penguin. "His entire fighting style is weapon based, and Power Ball involves physical prowess or special abilities…"

"Exactly!" exclaimed the Gerudo teenager. "I'm trying to convince Darcy that picking Connor is terrible idea! He might get hurt and mess up his perfect face!"

"I'd be willing to replace that She-Wolf, if I knew what the sport was," sniffed the persnickety female.

"I can fight my own battles, thank you, Zeborah," Connor mumbled afterward, his forehead resting in his gloved palm.

"I'm just here because I enjoy a good fight," the scary-looking girl said with a fanged grin. "Especially when Connor here gets into it; he's cute when he's angry!"

"I told you before, he's mine!" cried Zeborah, unsheathing her twin swords and advancing upon the girl. "Besides, we've kissed!"

"We did _not_!" Connor exasperated a little too quickly. "You caught me off guard and pecked me on the cheek! That doesn't count!"

"Heh heh, sounds like he's still on the market to me," exclaimed the other girl, smirking as her staff pounded against the ground on the way to her seat in the back. Zeborah fumed until the red could be seen on her tan skin. In a fury, she plunked herself in the seat behind Connor, refusing to talk to anyone after that.

"Please tell me that all of you aren't so…outlandish and immature," commented the teen in the silver suit, looking disgusted. "This school is definitely a downgrade from the one I was accepted to previously."

"You said it," murmured the girl with the pixie hair, proceeding to smooth out her blue plaid dress.

"When is this lame class gonna start?" rambled the chubby girl. "I mean, the bell rang like forty minutes ago!"

"The teacher of this class is also the principal," the Koopa child stated with his nose stuck in the air as he sashayed back to his desk, now that the fight was over. "He's probably finishing up some last minute things!"

"How do _you_ know that?"

"Because he's my father."

As if on cue, a much bigger Koopa thundered through the door, and while eight of the students were completely unfazed (including battle-suit boy), the other three screeched and flinched in their seats.

"What…what is that thing?" asked pixie-haircut girl. The Koopa heard her comment and whirled around to glare in her direction.

"I am not a thing! I am Bowser, Koopa King, Principal of Villain Prep, and the teacher of this class!" he boomed, waddling over to his desk. "You might be new here Missy, but you'd better get some respect wedged into your attitude!"

The girl's eyes widened behind her glasses. "Why, I never!"

"Anyway, sorry about the lateness, Professor Dragmire was arguing with the egghead again," Bowser explained gruffly, looking over his papers. "Now, considering that there are four new delinquents in our presence, we're gonna have to make sure that we know each other and that we're buddy-buddy. So, I'll have you state your name and your relations, if there's no trouble. You first, Bowser Junior."

"Why do I have to go first?" Junior complained. "I mean, I'm the most obvious person here. You're my dad, I'm a prince, I'm gonna take over the Bowser Badlands one day…I mean, my name is Bowser too for crying out loud!"

"Yeesh, son, there was no need for theatrics," Bowser scoffed, skimming down the list. "Hmm, Dash Bowman?"

"Present," stated the albino monkey, hands tapping on his desk. "I'm Andross' grandson, and I aspire to join Star Fox, one way or another…but if I can't, then I'll end up with Darcy in the new Star Wolf."

"Zeborah Dragmire?"

"Unfortunately present," Zeborah scoffed, her gold slippers slipping against the floor. "I'm Ganondorf's daughter, and technically princess to the Gerudo people."

"Hel…"

"That's Holle to you!" Holle hissed, being the girl with floating black hair and the silver staff. "Anyway, for the fresh meat, I am the Goddess of the Afterlife and currently Queen of the Underworld in replacement to Hades."

She stuck out her tongue, and the four newbies instantly recoiled. Holle then proceeded to smirk and drum her fingers along her staff.

"Silly mortals, that's your first mistake. I am not to be feared- respect me and don't challenge me, and I'll consider giving you a decent eternity. Didja hear the story about how I trapped the soul of Tabuu into my Soul Ball on the first day of school?"

"Of course not," scoffed the sophisticated boy, only to have Holle jab the orb end of her staff in his direction.

"Well, I did it on the verge of exhaustion, and it was such a beautiful blue…but I had to dispose of his soul because if the Soul Ball broke, he would've gotten free…and now my Soul Ball's a boring musty purple color again."

"That's…interesting," mumbled the chubby girl.

"Just pray that your soul doesn't end up in here, a'ight?"

Bowser coughed, then continued with roll call.

"Penelope Mack?"

"That would be me," stated the chubby girl with her blonde hair pulled into two pigtails. "I'm not related to anybody special, but I do live next door to that annoying girl Tenn…and I didn't know what to do about her until I heard tales of how Pokey -or Porky- Minch tried to bring down Ness…that inspired me, and now I'm trying to succeed where he failed."

"Interesting," Bowser mused, casually moving on. "Darcy O'Donnell?"

"In the fur," Darcy replied eccentrically, with Connor making a face. "The long lost niece of Wolf O'Donnell and future leader of Star Wolf is indeed present!"

"Darcy is your name?" huffed Penelope, raising an eyebrow. "Why can't you play in this 'Power Ball' match tonight, again?"

"Oh, no special reason, really; I just had some shopping planned- MY FREAKING ARM IS BROKEN!" the wolf howled, shoving her cast in Penelope's face.

"Tch, how'd that happen?" sneered the boy in the battle suit. "Get into a catfight and lose?"

"NO," Darcy growled, now bearing her fangs in the boy's direction. "I broke it during the last match against Inkwell High, while I got the winning goal for team, thank you. If Holle hadn't gotten in the way-"

"I wasn't even playing- I was just trying to be supportive and cheer you on, Darcy," Holle defended with a sleazy grin. Darcy just glared back as Bowser carried on.

"Prince Penji?"

"Yes," Penji muttered softly, avoiding the condescending glares of his new peers. "I'm the adopted son of King Dedede, and one day I'll be the ruler of Dreamland."

"…Periwinkle?!"

"Peri, Peri!" screamed the girl in the periwinkle-colored plaid dress, grasping at what little she had of hair. "Don't ever say my real name, ever!"

"I like her already," Holle interrupted.

"Yikes, sorry," scoffed Bowser. Peri took a deep breath and adjusted her glasses.

"No, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to lose control," she pulled herself together and continued. "A-Anyway, I am a rival Pokemon Trainer to Purple, and I train Ice-types."

"She's also diseased," the boy in the silver suit added hastily. Peri fumed and shook her fist at him.

"I am _not_ sick…I have a controlled illness," she explained. "I don't like to talk about it, though."

"Fine by me," responded Bowser, moving his finger down the list. "Connor Robotnik?"

"I am here and attending," replied Connor, brushing a tuft of blonde hair out of his face in such a way that made Zeborah swoon. "I'm Doctor Robotnik's great nephew, and the world that I originate from will be under my control by the time I turn twenty-one, I assure you."

"Oooh," sighed Zeborah while Darcy pulled down her eyelid and stuck out her tongue.

"Ryker Rondinelli?"

"Me," mused the boy with the battle suit, smirking condescendingly. "Please, don't mind my presence here, I'm only here to…observe, so to speak."

Bowser raised an eyebrow in his direction, skimming his student book for information. "…what world are you from, boy? There's nothing in the index about you!"

"Let's keep it that way," Ryker stated as he lifted his right arm, a machete suddenly jetting out of his suit. Peri jumped with the sudden swish it happened to make. "Some things should be revealed while others…should be kept in the dark."

"Whatever, creep," Bowser uttered, coming across the final name on the list. "And finally, we have Sterling-"

"You can call me 'Steelo'," the sophisticated Pokemon Trainer stated with a wink. "I'm Pink's rival, and I specialize in Steel-types. All of my Pokemon are absolutely excellent!"

"Too bad none of yours are fully evolved yet," scoffed Peri.

"Neither are any of yours, if I do recall."

Peri huffed and turned away as Bowser rose and clasped his hands together.

"Well, I know that most of the hour was eaten away by me tending to other business and attendance, but that's all right, since I didn't have much planned anyway. As you all know, tonight is when Hero High is coming to verse us in a Power Ball match."

"Way to bring that up again," sneered Darcy. Bowser ignored her and continued.

"Everyone over there thinks that we're pushovers, that we don't have the resources to even scrounge up a decent team…they don't even think we're a capable school! But after the crisis of the first day, Villain Prep has manage to pick itself off its feet, with new teachers, improved classes, and now more evil offspring to carve a path of darkness throughout the worlds…with this match of Power Ball, we will show those heroes just who they're dealing with now! Gra ha ha ha!"

Bowser threw his head back and burst into a mad cackle, with the original seven patiently waiting for him to cease while the four newbies just balked.

The bell then proceeded to ring, and in a flurry everyone left the class.

. . .

"I hate this school," Penelope proclaimed loudly, stuffing a doughnut into her mouth.

"It's not so bad once you get used to it," Penji tried to explain. "We've already learned a lot in just the first semester! Imagine what else we'll discover!"

"I want to know when lunch is," stated Steelo, glancing down at his watch.

"Same here," added Penelope. "I'm starving!"

"Lunch is after third hour," Holle explained, twirling her staff to and fro. "By that time, you will have worked up a heck of an appetite, if I do say so myself."

"But lunch does leave something to be desired," Dash mumbled afterward.

"It'd better be a five star course with appetizers," Peri sniffed. "I can't eat anything less than that. It upsets my stomach. And there better be pink lemonade with the little umbrellas in them too."

The original seven students exchanged a simultaneous glance before bursting into laughter at Peri. At one point, Darcy slung her good arm over Peri's shoulder before Peri almost ripped it off trying to remove it.

"Ah, you naïve, prissy little princess," the wolf chuckled. "You've got a lot to learn about this place."

"It's going to be a long semester," cackled Holle, gliding past the two with a sneer.

Peri gave them a questioning look, but realized that there may have been some truth behind their claims by the way the other students were snickering to themselves.

* * *

**So...yeah. I started with one new character (Ninty) to four (Peri, Steelo, and Penelope) to six (Alph and Ryker) to seven (Luke). Once I added Luke, everything fell into place and turned out perfect (although I had to go back and edit...several times...), but I'm really excited to finally publish this! But now, claimer/disclaimer!**

**I own: Prince Damien, "Kid" Zelda, Elysia Aran-Higgs, Junichi the Hedgehog, Coby, Tenn, Pink, Purple, Angelina, Starlos, Ninty, Connor Robotnik, Zeborah Dragmire, Hel AKA Holle, Prince Penji, Darcy O'Donnell, Periwinkle, Sterling, Penelope, and Ryker L. Rondinelli.**

**I do NOT Own: Marcus McCloud, Skippy Toad, Lulu Hare, Dash Bowman, Alph, Bowser Junior, Luke Triton, and all the famous video game characters that make apperances in this story. (I THINK I got everyone...)**


	2. Back into the Swing of Things

**SonicSonic54321: There will be communication, just not until later. ;)**

* * *

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 2: Back into the Swing of Things

**Before Second Hour-**

"So, how was your four day weekend, guys?" Coby asked his friends as they were gathered by the lockers between classes. Elysia, leaned up against her locker with her history book in her arms, simply shrugged.

"I mainly spent some much overdue time with my dad. Saw a really neat meteor shower too!"

"That's cool," Coby stated. "I mainly had Star Warrior Training, and Meta Knight wouldn't give it a rest for _anything_…he is such a stick in the mud sometimes."

"I was training too," admitted Junichi, standing next to Elysia. "For three days, at least. Then Sonic and Shadow had to take a day to plan out a strategy for the Power Ball match…"

"Better than what I had to do," grunted Zelda with her arms folded, and Damien couldn't resist snickering. Elysia raised an eyebrow.

"What'd you have to do?"

"She's a cheerleader!" Damien simpered, and there was no way he could stifle his laughter after that. Zelda proceeded to scowl at Damien's unexpectedly bellowing laughter as Coby gasped in utter shock.

"Whaaaat? Zel, you are the_ last_ person who I'd _ever_ guess would be a cheerleader!"

"I don't _want_ to be," Zelda hissed, clenching her fists. "But since I'm not playing tonight, Pink, Angelina, and Lulu wanted another girl to cheer with them…and I don't see why they didn't just get Tenn!"

"Because Tenn's on the team...?!" Damien, Elysia, and Junichi deadpanned in unison, while Coby smacked his head.

Down the hall a bit was Pink, Angelina, and Tenn, walking in a group and gossiping as usual…though not as usual, Tenn didn't have her heart set into it. Once Tenn started dragging her sneakers along the floor and shoving her hands in her pocket, however, Angelina decided to speak up.

"All right Tenn, I've got an eye for this stuff, and I can definitely tell you're not yourself today," Angelina stated, turning to the female psychic. "I mean, I even brought up golf by accident and you didn't start spewing one of your victory stories."

"Besides that, you're not as crazily optimistic as you usually are," added Pink. "As your equally psychic-involved best friend, I demand to know what's up."

"It's my brother," Tenn groaned, throwing her arms into the air. "I'm still upset that he's allowed into Hero High…"

"Um, why?" Angelina asked, rubbing her neck. "I mean, isn't having another hero among the ranks a good thing?"

"Yeah," Pink agreed. "His strengths are your weaknesses and vice versa! You guys can cover each other!"

"That's not the point," Tenn sighed, hanging her head. "My parents think he's some sort of prodigy destined to follow in their footsteps, but they're wrong…he's not who he says he is."

The trio turned to look for Ninty, and they found him strutting down the hall and chatting it up with Purple and Starlos. Upon seeing this, Tenn frowned while Pink went slackjawed.

"Ack, why's he hanging out with Purple?!"

"For the same reason why _you_ hang out with that brute, _whatever_ that reason is," scoffed Angelina, and Pink turned away to hide her forming brush.

"I highly doubt that."

"I'm just afraid Purple's planting ideas in his head," murmured Tenn. "I mean, they are rather alike…"

"Oh, cut Purple some slack," Pink said in his defense. "He's doing what he can to be better; he just needs the right enouragement, you know?"

They glanced back once again, and they could hear snippets of the boys' conversation.

"…she really sent you to the school counselor?" Ninty asked, and Purple nodded.

"Yup, and it really did help, believe it or not."

"Thank goodness too," Starlos muttered. "He was such a pain in the neck."

"Still am," Purple hummed with a wink, lacing his hands behind his head. He glanced down at Ninty and chuckled. "In fact, Ninty, you're kinda like how I used to be, but you're still young. You've got time to grow and change…I don't."

"Ah, but one never stops growing!" Starlos stated with mock wisdom, and Purple rolled his eyes. Ninty just kept silent, staring ahead and seemingly thinking to himself.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by Purple again, with the punk muttering, "Hey, can I call you Nine?"

"…why?!" Ninty asked bewilderedly, cocking his head.

"You know, you'd be Nine, and your sister is Tenn…Nine, Ten? Huh?"

Ninty was not amused, but Starlos found it hilarious and burst out laughing, eventually high fiving Purple. Pink, Tenn, and Angelina just groaned and turned back around.

"Let's…just go to class," Angelina offered, spreading her pink wings and gliding down the hallway. Tenn just moaned to herself while Pink snuck one last look at Purple.

"…he can be such an idiot."

**Second Hour, Heroic History-**

"Welcome back, my fantastic students!" Kirby exclaimed, excitedly spinning atop his desk. "Name's Kirby, and I teach the history of our heroic ancestors so that we may look to the future!"

"Uh, Kirby," Skippy coughed and pointed out. "So far we've learned the backstories of Olimar, Captain Falcon, the Ice Climbers, Donkey Kong, Marth…and we even had bonus units on people like Snake, Nathan Hale, Sly Cooper, and Master Chief. They weren't really our ancestors; just other heroes who have done things in the past."

"And if it was the past, it's history, innit?" Kirby replied back, and Skippy gulped and held up his hands in defeat.

"So what's our next unit on?" asked Marcus, sounding somewhat interested. "Are we gonna discuss what catastrophic results would occur if Mewtwo, the ultimate Pokemon, went up against Shadow, the Ultimate Life Form?"

"Whoa," Alph murmured under his breath, with the rest of the class "oohing".

Kirby just shook his head.

"Nah, that's not history; that didn't happen. However, I like your train of thought, because it does have something to do with what we're about to go into. It's still history, but yet…something a little more modern and up to date."

He pulled out his Teacher's Copy of "The History of Nintendo" and the class did the same with their books.

"Now, I'd like for you to turn to page forty-two, and we'll have…Ninty read the title."

"Me?" Ninty winced. "I…I don't even have a book!"

"I don't have one as well," added Luke, raising his hand.

"Here ya go!" Kirby exclaimed, whipping two out from nowhere and hurling them in their direction. Luke managed to catch his, although his chair subsequently fell backward. Ninty yelped and raised his hand- the book stopped in midair before it smacked him in the face. Heaving a sigh of relief, he lowered the book onto his desk and psychically flipped to the correct page. Frowning, Ninty glanced at the first paragraph and read the title.

"Okay, it says…'The History of the most Famous Heroes Ever'…with several exclamation points and decorated in rainbows."

"Whoops, heh heh, gave you my book," Kirby coughed, proceeding to inhale and remove the book from Ninty's grip. He was once again left without a book, but Purple saved him by tossing his own copy across the aisle.

"You can have mine," he muttered. "I don't pay attention anyway. I can't retain historic facts."

Ninty blinked and once again flipped to page forty-two as Kirby began to lecture.

"Now, the reason why this is a more modern topic is because the most famous heroes _ever_ are obviously in this school, and they also founded this school." He put on a smug expression. "And_ I_ happen to be one of them!"

"We already know that," sighed Angelina, resting her cheek on her palm.

"Perhaps…but you also don't know the history behind the success," Kirby pointed out, whipping out a pair of glasses and adjusting them on his nonexistent nose. "In fact, if it wasn't for Mario, I'm pretty sure our universe as we know it would cease to exist."

Hushed whispers of respect washed over the crowd.

"Are we going to learn about Mario's history today?" Starlos asked with a shocked look. Kirby pondered this as the lights began to dim and he leapt onto his desk.

"Yes, Mario's history is tied into this unit…but when it comes to him, there's only one thing to tell…"

"What do you mean?" asked Alph as the room progressed to grow darker and darker inexplicably.

"A long time ago, back when our fair universe was still young…something called the "Big Crash" had happened, and it threatened to destroy everything within this universe and others…but just after the "Big Crash" occurred, terrible things were arising in the Mushroom Kingdom, and one hero, like a shimmering beam of light, emerged out of the darkness to return the world back to its normal splendor…"

Kirby pulled out a flashlight and flicked its switch, shining the light around the room and accompanying it with noises.

"Yes, Mario rose to the challenge of saving the fair Princess Peach Toadstool from the clutches of King Bowser Koopa, and in the process brought much attention to himself, and the love and respect given to the plumber was so great that it mananged to prevent the universe from collapsing in on itself. In fact, from the happiness heroes bring by performing heroic duties is what keeps the universe thriving, and it's stronger now than it ever was back then."

The lights returned to normal, and Kirby's flashlight had been replaced by a sword.

"After Mario's first feat, another hero in a different world had been born- Link, the Chosen Hero of the Goddesses and destined to one day put the reincarnating evil to rest!" He swung the sword around, and Zelda notably became excited. "Many incarnations of Link have lived through time, but all of them possess an unbreakable spirit, and all of them have put evil to rest and rescued princess after princess…and they're usually named Zelda."

"I…never knew that," stated Junichi, turning to Damien, who only shrugged while his sister proceeded to beam happily. Junichi blinked and turned back to the front, where Kirby now had on an orange helmet and an arm cannon twice the size of him latched onto his stubby arm. Elysia's hand met her forehead.

"Sometime later, Samus Aran arose as the underdog compared to other worlds…her home world was attacked by a vicious and ravenous Ridley, who killed her parents and took away everything she ever knew…and she, a small three-year-old girl, was the only survivor. Thus, she was taken in by the Chozo, who trained her, messed with her DNA, and gave her a Power Suit…and today, Samus protects the universe from special threats and enjoys going cannon-crazy as a personal hobby."

Kirby then tossed off the costume and proceeded to run around the room, arms flying behind him as he zipped between the desks.

"Then Sonic came running into the world, and like Mario, not much is known about what he was like before- he refuses to tell us, and he hasn't even told _Link_," Kirby explained, gaining a mysterious tone. "Some say he's actually a prince while his mother is a lost queen and he's got siblings somewhere, others say that he used to be friends with Dr. Robotnik and is directly responsible for why Eggman is the way he is, and even a few believe that he was all alone his entire life, all his abilities learned from the friends he had in Green Hill Zone, and that his true memories are repressed deep in his mind."

The class jumped when Kirby karate-kicked a cabinet.

"But in Sonic's case, origins hardly matter- he was the only one willing and able to stand against the oppressions of Robotnik, going from saving woodland creatures to battling time itself…and he's gone the entire way with a smile on his face."

Kirby then bounced back to the front of the room and plopped himself onto his desk.

"Then there's me- I crashed landed on Dreamland one day on my Warp Star, and according to Meta Knight, I was "premature". But I don't think I was, because if I hadn't shown up when I did, the planet Popstar would be a lot more monster-infested than it already is."

Coby's, Lulu's, and Ninty's hands shot into the air. Kirby called upon Lulu first.

"So you were the last of your friends to become a hero?" she asked, and Kirby nodded.

"Yeah, and time runs a heck of a lot slower in my world by years, so I'm considered really young at home when in actuality I've probably existed for twenty something years almost everywhere else. It confuzzles me so I don't think about it too much." Kirby shrugged. "But hey, a hero's a hero, regardless of age…although I've been known to have acted rather hastily in the past, but I always had good intentions, I can promise that."

Ninty's hand waved even faster after that, so Kirby called upon him next.

"This might sound like a weird question, but…how come you're a hero?" Ninty questioned. "I mean, like you said, you've done some questionable things and everything turned out okay...so why not do questionable things more often? It's not like you'll get caught."

Everyone turned at the alarming sound of Tenn's head slamming full force onto her desk. Kirby ignored the notion and appeared to look thoughtful.

"Calm down; there's no such thing as a stupid question!" Kirby said brightly.

"Unless it comes from a stupid person," muttered Tenn into her desk.

"It's not like I do the wrong things on purpose- it usually only happens because I'm trying to help…although that one time with the cake was entirely my fault," he added sheepishly. "But why do _bad_ things? That doesn't get you anywhere as far as being good- look at Villain Prep for crying out loud! Being bad obviously gives you a bad rep, which is why they could hardly afford to build that school and even get a decent educational system going!"

"That's why they consulted Tabuu and ended up almost complying with his demands," Pink explained to Ninty. "Even after getting help from the ultimate manifestation of evil, they still couldn't scrape together a decent school day."

Everyone snickered, except for Ninty, who was currently frowning while returning his attention to Kirby.

"Well, maybe I just mean to ask why be a hero_ all_ the time? Doesn't _always_ being good get boring after a while?"

"No," Kirby replied with a surprised blink. "It's the right thing to do, and that never gets boring!"

Ninty made a face just as the bell rang, and the class began to flock. Kirby leapt up and landed in his seat, calling out to his students as they evacuated the room.

"Tomorrow we'll pick up where we left off- a little more elaboration about me and my friends, and then we'll get started on people like Red, Fox, Pit, Ness, and Starfy later in the week! You all hear that? Be sure to bring defensive armor- you might need it!"

"Ugh, now I'll never get my question answered!" Coby complained, throwing his hands up as he exited the room. Kirby coughed and halted his apprentice.

"Uh, you can ask me right now, you know."

Coby stopped in mid step and blinked. "Oh yeah."

He rushed back into the room as Kirby leaned nonchalantly in his chair.

"So, what's on your mind, kiddo?"

"Well, you said that Meta Knight said you were 'premature', landing on PopStar…" Coby began, sliding his pale yellow mask over his face. "Was I the same way too?"

"Maybe, but I don't like to think so," explained Kirby. "I like to see it as...well, wherever we Star Warriors come from, they gave you a chance to live, learn, and grow before having to snuff out evil. I was taking out Monsters of the Week when I was just a baby, and Meta Knight's been in so many wars and adventures that not even I know of all his feats. Especially since some of them involved beating me up."

"Yeah, but I'm eleven, and I already have the sword skills of a master plus everything you can do. It's boring, I'm sick of training, and I certainly don't feel like I've lived."

"Like I said, time in our world moves slower," Kirby pointed out, drawing out a pie from nowhere and starting to dig in. "It only feels like a long time to you because we're not in our world right now. We'll go back home, and you'll see that you still have plenty of time to enjoy life."

"Whatever," Coby murmured, strutting out the door again. "See ya later, Kirb."

"Baaai!" Kirby replied cheerfully, inhaling his pie and rummaging through his mini fridge again.

**Second Period, Magic and Swordplay -**

"Morning students," Professor Dragmire had greeted the group, nodding to each student and acknowledging their presence. A look of distaste did cross his expression when Connor walked by, however. The young scholar took a seat in the front as always, while Zeborah happily glided to the seat behind him.

What was different was that Holle plunked herself in the front next to Connor, rather than in the back corner seat. Connor paid little mind to this while Zeborah was completely thrown for a loop.

"What're you doing, Holle?" Zeborah exasperated. "Go slink to the back seat where you belong!"

"It's a somewhat free school," Holle scoffed back, not moving an inch. "Maybe I want to shake it up today and sit next to Connor."

"Just don't bother me too much- I'm still trying to perfect this theory on Cryotechnics for Penji," Connor muttered, scrawling endlessly on a piece of paper. Zeborah sighed, admiring Connor's resolve as always, but was still put off by Holle's unwanted presence.

"Yes, Holle, don't distract him."

"Just shut up," the Goddess sneered back. "I'd happily head to the back, but there's no way I'm sitting anywhere near that _slob_!"

The girls whirled around to see Penelope shoveling pounds of junk food into her mouth, and she was plopped into the seat next to Holle's usual one. Both girls shuddered, and suddenly Zeborah really couldn't blame Holle.

"Anyway, class," Ganondorf began, rising from his seat and starting to pace. "Instead of us working on enhancing our powers and weapon capabilities and deriding Connor in the process because he sucks and has no special talent to him, we'll discuss tonight's Power Ball tournament, because I've received word from the principal that we might need some strategy. Hero High's got some students that are pretty good at the sport and we…don't. As this school best strategist, I've been assigned the task."

Everyone except Connor, Ryker, Steelo, Peri, and Penelope got excited, with the latter four still being completely clueless and Connor still scribbling away. Darcy then raised her hand and waved it wildly, and _that_ got Connor's attention, because he knew it wouldn't end well.

"Yes, yes, Professor Dragmire!" Darcy exclaimed, proceeding to change into an innocent pose. "I can't play in the Power Ball match tonight, so I tried having Connor take my spot on the team so we wouldn't have to forfeit, and even though he's the only one who's well aware of the sport and the only one that's not already on the team, I find it completely insulting that he doesn't suck it up and, well…take one for the team."

"I do too," Ganondorf hummed, and without looking up, Connor ceased writing. The teacher thundered over to Connor, and Connor completely froze up. However, before the barrage of insults could commence and Darcy would inherit some undeserved satisfaction, Zeborah, Penji, Holle, and Junior sprung out of their seats, barricading Ganondorf away from Connor.

"Connor is not the only one in this class that isn't on the team," Junior stated, narrowing his eyes. "Dash and Holle are the replacements for crying out loud, and Darcy never bothered asking them."

"Yes, the team as it stands includes Junior, Zeborah, Darcy, and myself, and we're already one short a player for a decent team," Penji pointed out. "So not only would someone need to replace Darcy, we'd also need someone to fill the final slot."

"Darcy shouldn't even be allowed to play because she's only proficient with a weapon," Holle pointed out against her better judgment. "Her physical skills leave something to be desired, as they are nothing compared to Lulu's."

"HEY!" Darcy howled from her seat, bearing her fangs and growling in her throat.

"And you can't let Connor play," Zeborah stated, hugging the boy much too tightly for his liking. "He'll be a sitting duck!"

"Dash shouldn't play for the same reasons as Darcy," added Junior.

"And I ain't about to put my Soul Ball at risk again," Holle sniffed, spinning her staff.

Ganondorf started to say something, but the blazing look in Zeborah's eyes caused the words to vanish from his throat. Scowling, he honestly had no idea what to do next, for if he even considered registering Connor, Junior and Holle would gang up on him and he didn't even want to imagine what Zeborah would do.

"Well," Ganondorf finally grunted, folding his arms. "What do you propose we do, then?"

"It's not like we don't have four new students that could possibly be useful," Holle replied sarcastically. "Let's not see what they can do and if they'll be any good in the match tonight; it's a terrible idea."

"Oh yeah," murmured Ganondorf, glancing to the students in the back. "Forgot about you four. Any of you interested?"

"No," sniffed Penelope, looking absolutely uninterested. Dash turned to face her and narrowed his eyes.

"What the heck? Are you just going to sit there uselessly throughout the entire day? I mean, you've done nothing reputable or stimulating at all!"

"Well, fur-face, maybe you don't want to find out," Penelope said, a smirk slowly growing on her face. "Speaking of, can I see your blaster? I hear it's got incredible range and you've rigged it up yourself."

Dash raised an eyebrow, but reached for his holster and realized…that his blaster was missing. Panicking, Dash patted himself up and down and searched on the floor, only to have a shot from said blaster whiz over his head. Glowering, he returned to his seat to find Penelope simpering and spinning his weapon around her finger.

"Give that back!" he ordered, snagging it from her grip and putting it back where it belonged. "So you're good at stealing, big deal…"

"Regardless, I'm obviously weapon-based, so leave me alone," Penelope replied with a scoff. "Power Ball sounds stupid anyway."

"I agree," sneered Ryker, a gleam crossing his strikingly orange eyes. "I'm weapon-based as well anyway, so my participation is out of the question."

"Ooo-kay, ignoring the unsettling fat slob in the corner and the anti-social creep…" Ganondorf coughed, turning to the Pokemon Trainers. "You're both good at what you do, right?"

"I should like to believe so," Steelo said confidently, snapping his fingers. Peri just folded her arms.

"Of course I'm good at what I do," she snarled lightly. "I'm much better than Purple anytime, anywhere!"

"Pokemon Trainers can play Power Ball," Zeborah recalled. "So, why don't you two just join?"

"We can't just let anyone join," Holle stated, emerging from the shadow between their desks and grinning deviously.

"Exactly," agreed Junior. "We can't have people who don't know what they're doing."

Peri looked incredibly offended as Steelo just chuckled to himself.

"Well if you don't trust in my abilities, I'll just have to show you, won't I?"

He arose out of his desk and swaggered to the front of the room, with Junior, Zeborah, Holle, Penji, and Ganondorf returning to their seats. Connor was still trying to not get himself involved while Darcy was absolutely outraged. Steelo then reached into his pocket and produced five silver Pokeballs, tossing them into the air and releasing his Pokemon.

A Mawile, Pawniard, Steelix, Aron, and Skarmory emerged, and the class really was visibly impressed. Steelo then glanced at Peri, and a tiny grin crossed his face.

"Of course, my Pokemon's iron will only truly shine while in a battle, when their steel nerves are being pushed to the limit!"

"Oh _no_," Peri huffed, a glint shinning over her glasses. "There is no way I'm going to battle you- I'm at a type disadvantage!"

"Oh, persnickety Peri, always finicky about something," Steelo stated while shaking his head. "If you're as great as you say you are, then you should be able to defeat me easily!"

Trying hard to maintain a composed composition, Peri rose from her desk and pulled out her own periwinkle-colored Pokeballs.

"Very well. If that's how you want to play, then I will beat you personally!"

"Ooh, I've never seen a Pokemon battle before!" exclaimed Zeborah excitedly.

"I just think it's cool that Peri uses Ice-types," stated Penji.

"Too bad Ice-types are on the lamer end of the spectrum," Junior said with his tongue stuck out.

Pouting, Peri tossed up her five Pokeballs, calling out, "Let's sparkle, you guys! We'll show Steelo what we can do against the odds!"

A Glaceon, Cubchoo, Bergmite, Cryogonal, and Swinub materialized, and Steelo's grin only grew broader. Seeing his smug look, Peri instantly gritted her teeth.

"Hmph, you look confident," she sneered. "You can choose which Pokemon I battle with, then!"

"Faith in your abilities- I respect that," Steelo admitted, smile refusing to falter. "I should be wise and make you use Swinub…but I'll be nice and allow you Cryogonal. After all, I can sense it's your strongest, despite not being your starter."

"Okay then…" Peri trailed, retracting the other four.

"And now, you may pick which Pokemon I battle with."

The class gasped in response, with Peri glancing over her shoulder and silencing them. Looking painstakingly nervous, she cautiously pointed at Aron.

"I choose Aron, since-"

"Why, since he's the smallest?" Steelo asked, calling back his other four. "Heh, no matter which one you picked…it would've been a wrong choice!"

"Ooh, raise your hand if you've got bets on Steelo," stated Junior, and Connor, Holle, Ryker, and Darcy raised their hands.

"Anyone for Peri?" asked Zeborah, and Penji, Dash, and Penelope responded.

"I don't care- they'd both better be proficient, because we need to win the Power Ball match!" Ganondorf murmured in a gruff tone.

Steelo tossed his Pokeballs back into his pocket and gestured to Peri.

"Ladies first."

"You're going to regret it," Peri huffed, lashing her hand forward. "Cryogonal, Icy Wind!"

"Aron, Protect," Steelo said simply.

Cryogonal had worked up a huge and frosty wind, blowing it in the direction of the tiny Aron. However, a shimmering shield materialized in front of Aron, and the Icy Wind was rendered ineffective. Smirking, Steelo snapped his fingers and pointed at his opponent.

"All right, Metal Claw!"

"Aron!" cheered his Pokemon, leaping at Cryogonal and beginning to claw at his snowflake-shaped foe. Peri cringed as Cryogonal had no way to defend against it, having to listen to its pained shriek. Steelo simply tipped his hat and winked.

"It's super effective!"

"Don't get cocky," Peri grunted under her breath. "Come on, Aurora Beam!"

"Crrrrr-YO!"

A straight shot of rainbow light blasted from Cryogonal, landing a critical hit on Aron, but still not doing much damage due to types. Steelo continued not to look worried, calling out, "Iron Head, Aron."

Aron bolted forward once again, running straight at Cryogonal with his head beginning to shine. Peri started to panic.

"Cryogonal, use Ice Shard to deter Aron from his path!"

Cryogonal proceeded to shoot out small shards of ice, but they either glanced off Aron's iron armor or he simply dodged them. Seeing that didn't work, Peri exasperated and threw up her hands.

"Ice Beam!"

"Iron Defense, Aron!" Steelo shouted. "Then finish them off with the Iron Head you've been building up!"

"Cryo!"

"Aron!"

Aron's entire body became extra sturdy, while Cryogonal put all of its power behind its Ice Beam. It launched forward at Aron, but the Iron Armor Pokemon fought through it with its increased defenses and eventually reached Cryogonal, leaping up and plowing his head into it. A loud explosion emerged afterward, and while Aron landed stylishly on the ground, Cryogonal fell flat with swirls in its eyes.

"That was fast," snorted Penelope.

"Cryogonal is unable to battle, making Steelo the winner!" exclaimed Dash, and everyone gave him strange looks. "What? I know how this works! By six generations and over fifteen seasons, you think you'd have everything down…"

"Sorry, Cryogonal…" Peri stated regretfully, drawing Cryogonal back into its ball. "Take a well-deserved break."

"Excellent as always, Aron," Steelo congratulated, doing the same with his Pokemon. "Another successful battle! Very efficient as well, I must say."

There was then applause, and the two Pokemon Trainers spun around to see Ganondorf clapping his hands.

"Well, not completely shabby, at least in Steelo's case," Ganondorf stated, and Peri frowned as Steelo struck a pose. "…but we DO need two people, and that miserable excuse for a villain that is Penelope isn't useful, so you're in too, Peri."

"Yes!" Peri cheered, pumping her fists. "I still have no idea how to play, but as long as it'll help my Pokemon get stronger, then I'll go for it!"

"Now that that's out of the way, we still need a game plan," Ganondorf mused, beginning to pace once again. "There has to be some way to get information on the members of the other team, so we can exploit their weaknesses and formulate a strategy around it…"

"I'll do it."

All heads turned to Connor, who had muttered the words so quickly and consecutively that they almost missed it.

"I'll talk to my uncle and get a decent plan squared away next hour, and we can go over it in the afternoon. I'm able to hack into Hero High's mainframe, so I'll just extract the files about the most likely candidates for the team and I'll go from there. After all, it's set up by Tails. Not that hard to do- all the passwords are either 'Sonic' or 'mintCandy'."

"Wait, if you can get into the school database, how come you haven't sabotaged them or anything?" Darcy asked, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. Connor rolled his eyes like it was a stupid question.

"Come on, I've got more important things to do than mangle with the educational system. Honestly."

Meanwhile, he found Ganondorf hovering over him again, and Connor inwardly grimaced.

"The guy who can't play in the sport wants to be the one to come up with our winning strategy. Yes, that makes a lot of sense. Any other ideas?"

"I say let him do it!" Zeborah exclaimed, drawing her duo swords and holding them before her. "I mean, he can do the statistics and stuff, can't he? He's probably got the best chance of getting us to victory than anyone!"

Connor blinked and glanced up at Zeborah.

"Wow, thanks."

"No problem. Now…" she jabbed her swords forward, and Ganondorf flinched. "He will be the one the figure this out, okay Daddy?"

"Zeborah Janet, you are so grounded when we get home! No daughter of mine will raise a sword against me!" Ganondorf boomed.

"Dad, I'm still grounded from the last punishment you gave me on the first day of school."

"Oh yeah. But when that grounding is finished, you'll get another one!" Ganondorf claimed.

"Just let the boy do the strategy!" Holle howled, slamming her staff on the floor. "For crying out loud, who cares if he can't fight physically or anything? He's offering to help in a way that he can, and you and Darcy are just making things difficult!"

Ryker whistled as Dash and Penji went slackjawed. Eventually Ganondorf threw up his hands and gave up.

"FINE! The nerd can do the strategy- I don't care, as long as it's good, it gets us the victory, and I don't have to do it!"

The bell rang, and the class instantly made a beeline for the exit. Connor simply rose from his seat, gathered up his papers, and calmly strode out the door, his coattails flapping as he did so.

"Thank you kindly, Professor Dragmire."

"I still hate you, kid. Stay away from my daughter."

"Of course."

**After Second Period-**

"I cannot believe I lost…" Peri mumbled to herself, gathering things from her locker. "I know Ice-types aren't that great defensive wise, but offense is the best defense, right?"

"I thought you were cool," Penji's small voice suddenly rang out, and Peri instantly screamed. "Eek! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

"You can't sneak up on me!" Peri gasped, grabbing her heart and looking frantic. "You'll send me into shock!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Penji muttered, folding his hands and bowing his head. Once Peri calmed down, she glanced at Penji and folded her arms.

"What do you want, anyway? Shouldn't you be hurrying to class?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I liked your Pokemon…" Penji said quietly, beginning to wring his mittens. Peri blinked, then began to relax.

"Really? People don't generally like ice types because they're really hard to come by and they're not all that spectacular in most battles…but I like them because they're beautiful and can be powerful if executed right."

"I like them because I've got ice powers like they do," Penji explained, demonstrating by creating a small ice crystal in his hands. "Cryogonal kinda inspired me…and if you think they're pretty, then why not enter contests? I mean, I've heard about them, and it seems like a better fit for you."

"I've…actually thought about it," Peri admitted, folding her arms behind her back. "But my dream is to be a Gym Leader, and that involves a lot of battles, so I need to get better and develop more effective strategies…"

"Well, couldn't you do that through contests as well?" Penji asked.

"Maybe," replied Peri, looking thoughtful. "But that's not going to help me become a better trainer against Pink, Purple, or Steelo…"

"I think you could beat them," Penji concluded, starting to skip off. "You just had some bad luck- that was all."

Peri watched the small blue penguin skip away, and she ended up adjusting her glasses and gathering her things for her next class.

Meanwhile, Darcy was walking with Dash, literally shaking with rage. Dash was afraid to bring it up or point it out, but the scathing look on her face was starting to bug him.

"Man, why are you so hung up today?" he asked, scratching his head. "You've been absolutely crazy since you got here!"

"I have to miss the Power Ball match!" she cried as if it was obvious. "It's not my fault it's not 'safe for me to participate'! And I just wanted to make sure I had a good replacement, but everybody loves Connor and hates me, and now I'm being replaced with two complete noobs, and I'm so mad I could just- ARRGH!"

She whipped out her laser rifle in her left hand and shot five wayward blasts, each of them narrowly missing Penelope and Steelo and putting five holes in some of the lockers.

"HEY!" Bowser boomed, poking his head out of the principal's office. "We're still not exactly swimming in money, you know!"

"And I don't feel like paying with my life today," Penelope scoffed, slamming her locker and stalking off, seemingly smuggling something in her arms. However, neither Dash nor Darcy noticed this, as Darcy was still steaming and Dash was literally scared.

Down the hall were Junior, Connor, Zeborah, and Holle, simply discussing Ganondorf's class.

"That was way too hectic, with Pokemon battles, flying insults, and all that defending," huffed Junior.

"Yes, speaking of the defending, thank you girls for sticking up for me," Connor stated, referring to Holle and Zeborah. Zeborah simply beamed and clasped her hands together.

"I'd do it every day if I had to!"

"I only did it because everyone yelling was getting on my nerves," grumbled Holle. "But seriously, everyone does like you Connor- how come there's such a target on your back for Ganondorf and Darcy?"

"Beats me," Connor said with a sigh. "But thanks again- I really did appreciate what you said."

"Eh, no problem, Brainiac," Holle replied, slugging him on the shoulder. She then smiled slightly and glided away. "And…you're welcome."

Zeborah watched the entire display in horror as Junior walked nonchalantly beside her. He was torn away from his leisurely pace when Zeborah pinned him up against a wall in a panic.

"Yack, what the-"

"Junior! Holle is going in for the kill on Connor!" she exclaimed in terror, watching Connor walk away with a smile on his face. Junior just stared back with a complex look.

"…What?!"

"Junior, I can't lose him," Zeborah said weakly, almost shaking with the thought. "Holle's a Goddess- she probably has Cupid on speed dial!"

"…so what does this have to do with me? I don't care about your love life!"

"Well, you're like Connor's best friend!" Zeborah exclaimed. "Talk me up or something with him."

"….if you really want my opinion, I'd say you need to just pull back a bit," Junior finally sighed. "After all, you don't want to go down the Amy Rose path."

"…hah?"

"Drop me, now!"

Begrudging, Zeborah let go, and Junior cascaded to the floor. He proceeded to grumble as he dusted himself off.

"As I was saying, if you push too hard, you'll end up like Amy and Sonic- you'll become obsessive and have to adopt to find happiness while Connor will never return your affections."

"But…I don't…" Zeborah didn't know what to say after that, and eventually gave up and sagged. "Junior, you've gotta help me. Please?"

"Why should I?" Junior scoffed, folding his arms. "I've got other things I could be doing, like thinking up new evil plans for extra credit!"

"You should help me because you're my friend, and even though you're a little bratty punk there's a soul in there," Zeborah stated, copying Junior's pose and smirking. Junior was completely flabbergasted for a few seconds, but then he eventually growled and pulled out his paintbrush.

"Ugh, fine, just give me a few hours to think of something."

"Yes!" Zeborah cheered, scooping up Junior and cuddling him. "Thank you! You're the best!"

"Just don't start falling in love with me, all right?"


	3. Furthering the Game Plans

**KingBloo: Hey, glad to hear you're enjoying this one too! I usually don't even write about OCs unless they're minor characters, so asking other for OCs rarely crosses my mind. If I ever need some, I'll be sure to ask, why not? ^^**

* * *

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 3: Furthering the Game Plans

**Before Third Hour- **

"Come on, guys!" Junichi exclaimed with palpable excitement, sprinting down the hall. "We can't be late!"

"No matter if we're on time or not, we're always too slow for third hour," huffed Alph, shaking his head.

"Yes, but I hear today's going to be different!" Skippy pointed out.

"That's just because the Power Ball match is later," Marcus pointed out once again. "It's obviously going to be the topic in today's class."

"Can't argue with that," Lulu agreed, hands over her head as they walked into the "classroom".

Luke trotted quietly behind them, lugging his bag over his shoulder and looking rather lost in thought. Marcus eventually glanced over his shoulder and motioned to the boy.

"Hey, Luke?"

Luke snapped out of his daze, a gasp escaping from him afterwards.

"Y-Yes?"

"Where are you from, anyway? I don't think I ever quite caught that."

"I'm from London," Luke explained, pulling the bag high upon his shoulder. "I was born there, but then my parents moved to Misthallery, and afterward I moved back when I started my apprenticeship with Professor Layton…but then I-"

"Oh, cool!" exclaimed Alph, sliding up next to him. "I think I'd like to see London. Maybe my grandfather can let me borrow his ship again so I can fly over there sometime!"

"…London is a very nice place- it just rains a lot," Luke finally added with a chuckle. "And there's always something to do. Just ask anybody for a puzzle!"

"Puzzles aren't really my thing- I prefer going on missions like my dad," Marcus shrugged. "But, we all have our specialties."

"Indeed," uttered Luke, shaking his head. He then glanced ahead to the gym doors, where Purple and Starlos were battling to get in first, only to be disrupted by Ninty, who used his powers to move them out of the way without even moving a finger. Luke frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Hmm…"

"What's up, Luke?" asked Lulu, catching his gaze.

"Am I the only one a little unsettled by Ninty's behavior?" Luke questioned, grabbing his hat.

"He's a bit…blunt, but I don't see anything wrong with him, personally," stated Skippy.

"I hear that Tenn knows something about him, but she hasn't even told her friends about it," added Lulu. "I don't like him nevertheless."

"And neither do I, and I hate saying that because he's new," Alph added guiltily.

"Well, if there is something fishy going on with that kid, then I'm the one to unearth the answer!" declared Luke, pointing forward. "It may not even be anything to worry about, but his demeanor so far…"

"It's been anything but heroic," muttered Marcus, leading them into the gym and throwing open the door.

**Third Hour, Gym Class-**

"Goooooood morning, students!" exclaimed Sonic the Hedgehog, hyperactively bouncing on his heels at an uncontrollable rate. Several of the students had to stare at him curiously.

"Um, Sonic, you're not hyped up on anything, are you?" Purple asked, hands shoved into his pockets and grinning deviously. Sonic shook his head.

"Just anticipation!" He sprinted around the gym a few times and finally relaxed a bit. "Okay, I think I'm good now. Let's get started."

"Oooh, do we have to do more plyometrics?" asked Angelina, growing tired at the very thought. "I can't take anymore after last week…"

"I'd like another lesson on how to perform a spin dash," Marcus suddenly exclaimed with a raised hand, with everyone snickering. "After all, we learned _so_ much that week."

"Ha ha," huffed Sonic, running his fingers through his quills. "I just wanted to see if anyone besides Junichi could pull it off."

"Ugh, enough of this," grumbled a newcomer, this one also being a hedgehog. "Let's just get down to business."

Sonic frowned and started tapping his foot. "What the heck, Shadow? I told you to wait until I dropped the cue!"

"I'm not going to make my entrance after 'psychotic, gun-happy hedgehog gone wrong'. Honestly."

"Well, at least people would know who you are by description!"

"Why's he here anyway?" interrupted Ninty, and Sonic and Shadow froze.

"I thought Luigi briefed you- Shadow's the co-coach for Power Ball," explained Sonic. "Aside from that, he's just taking up valuable space in my gym!"

"Anyway," Shadow grumbled, completely disregarding Sonic. "Everyone knows about the game tonight, blah blah blah, thus this hour will be used for training. The main team, please step to the left."

Damien was the first to move, followed by Elysia and a slightly hesitant Junichi. Marcus was the next to move, and an overeager Tenn skipped over and spun around.

"Ready to go!" she exclaimed, flashing a peace sign.

"How come she's on the team?" Ninty complained, and Tenn glowered in his direction.

"Well, it was to simply keep the balance," Sonic stated with a nonchalant shrug. "She and Damien are two of our best, able to swap between power and physical capability at ease, plus their strategy and leadership skills are invaluable. Elysia and Marcus are good on defense, and Junichi is the lead scorer."

"I'm still not all that good though," Junichi mumbled under his breath.

"We do have substitutions, if you're really that interested," Shadow replied to Ninty, nudging his head in the direction of Coby, Skippy, Starlos, and Purple. "They only get to play if their designated person is unable to play. For example, if something were to happen to Elysia, Purple would be her replacement, or if Marcus were to miss the match, Skippy would step in."

"Hmm," Ninty mused, appearing fascinated. "Who would I end up subbing for?"

"Well, your sister doesn't have a replacement yet because she's never needed one," Sonic pointed out, completely missing Tenn's gestures that told him to shut up. "I guess you could take that spot, but the odds of Tenn not being able to play are very low."

"Then I'll go against the odds," Ninty said with a dangerous grin, and Tenn only turned away.

Following that, Sonic clapped his hands together and started barking out orders. "Right then. Main team, to the left. Cheerleaders, you may practice in the corner. Substitutions, on the right. We need to be as sharp as we can be for tonight!"

"Consider it done, Sonic!" Damien replied with a salute, Elysia rolling her eyes and dragging him to the left side of the gym.

"Um, excuse me," Luke eventually spoke up, tapping on Sonic's shoulder. "Where am I to go? I'm not on the team, there's no room for substitutes, and I'm not entirely interested in becoming a cheerleader, I'm afraid…"

"Huh, that is a problem," Sonic stated, scratching his ear. "I guess just for today you can sit on the bench and observe. I hate doing that to you, but-"

"No, that's all right," Luke intervened, pulling a pencil from behind his ear and taking out his notebook. "There is something that requires my attention right now anyway."

"Wow, talk about meticulous," Sonic chuckled, patting Luke on the head. "Just like Layton."

Luke perked up upon hearing the name. "You've met him!"

"Sure, but the meetings are far and few in between. However, I did catch him giving a speech at one of many crossover parties that Princess Peach just loves to throw. He's a true gentleman, that's for sure."

"That's what he strives for," Luke uttered quietly, then turned back to Sonic. "How long ago was that?"

"Heck if I remember- couple weeks back, maybe? Might've been Winter Break, so not that long ago. Why?"

"…no special reason," Luke responded abruptly, burying his face in his notebook and stalking off to the bleachers. Sonic watched him sit, then headed over to go coach the team.

Meanwhile, Pink, Angelina, and Lulu were excitedly jumping around in the corner, while Zelda was hesitantly inching up to them with a distained look on her face. Angelina caught her doubtfully making her way over and giggled.

"Come on, Zelda," the angel chuckled, flying over and picking her up. "You'll never get the basic cheer down if you act so sluggish!"

"Angie, I am a swordswoman, and you want me to put on a silly skirt and chant. There's something wrong with this picture."

"It's not so bad, Zelda," Pink pointed out, halting her stretches and walking over to her. "We just pep the crowd, do a couple of neat tricks, and we're pretty much done. Power Ball matches never last very long anyway."

"Exactly," added Lulu, walking on her hands before performing a cartwheel. "We won't make you do anything out of your league, we promise."

"But I can't do all these physically strenuous activities!" Zelda protested, Angelina finally setting her on the ground. "If I had even the slightest physical capability, I'd be a substitute and not a flimsy cheerleader!"

"That's what Sonic's class is for though, genius," Angelina scoffed with a laugh. "It's to help build up your physical capabilities. You can't say that a whole semester's worth of training didn't affect you in some way."

Zelda eventually sighed and folded her arms, glancing away. "All right, you with the point. Just…can I see a demonstration or something first?"

"Of course!" Pink exclaimed, tossing out a pink Pokeball. "But first, I'm going to need my little Espeon to assist us!"

The purple Pokemon popped out of its ball, stretching out and mewling afterward. Pink held up a finger and smiled a little.

"Espeon, Morning Sun!"

"Espi!"

Espeon threw its head back to the sky, the gem on its forehead beginning to glow. Then, somehow, the sunlight in the room began to intensify, but pleasantly, giving the girls a rejuvenated spirit. The light even started to sparkle, and that's when Angelina, Pink, and Lulu struck pre-cheer poses. Zelda just gawked and looked on.

"Uh, how does that move even work while we're in a room-?"

"Beats me," Pink replied with a shrug. "But having a little natural spotlight adds to our routine!"

Then, starting to sway to an unknown beat, the three girls all danced forward, with Pink leading the chant while Angelina and Lulu started cartwheeling around. Lulu then did several kick flips while Angelina did a few midair acrobatics. Lulu then started the chant as Pink tumbled forward, landing on one knee and leaning forward while Angelina gently landed on her back with one foot and started twirling around. Zelda just watched with gaping eyes as Angelina and Lulu started throwing themselves into the air and doing front flips and other crazy things, with the show finally ending with Pink and Lulu landing on the ground and sticking out their hands, with Angelina floating down and delicately placing her feet on the duo's shoulders.

"And that's just one of our routines," Lulu explained, wiping a bit of sweat from her forehead. "The second one is a lot more difficult to pull off, and the third one involves me doing the splits and Angelina landing on Pink's palm."

"Er…Zelda?" Angelina asked, waving her hand in front of the pink-clad girl. Zelda was still astonished for a few moments before fainting and falling on her back.

"Oh, dear…" Pink sighed, Espeon walking up and curling against her legs. "We might need another Morning Sun, my Espeon…"

Meanwhile, Coby, Skippy, Purple, and Starlos were passing around a ball, with Alph acting as a goalie, all of them not practicing too hard since there was hardly a chance that any of the main team would need substitution. It wasn't until Ninty finally walked over that the quintet did anything of relevance.

"Well, if it isn't Nine!" exclaimed Purple, leaning against the wall and smirking. Ninty narrowed his eyes and just shook his head.

"Quit calling me that," he insisted, and Purple just shrugged.

"Whatever," the punk replied as his Drapion sided next to him. Ninty gulped and scooted away, only to bump into Skippy.

"Well hi!" the orange toad exclaimed, waving excitedly. "So you're a substitute too, huh?"

"Yup, I'm the sub for my sister," Ninty explained, brushing his hand over his beanie. "I plan on playing tonight, you know."

"Har har, good luck with that," scoffed Starlos, folding his arms and rolling his eyes. "Tenn is the best player we have, and she's really improved since we first played this game. She has better control over her strikes and knows just where to position people. When it comes to Power Ball, her leadership surpasses even Damien's."

"Amen to that," added Coby, rapidly tapping his chin with a stubby arm. "Tenn's also the only one who has never had to sit out of a match. One time Junichi had twisted his foot so he couldn't play, Marcus was called on a mission with his father during a match, Elysia was having malfunctions with her Power Suit that needed immediate attention so she was taken out once…and Damien only missed out once because he was _really_ sick. Tenn's always been able to play, and I'm sure she plans on seeing out the final game as well."

"Besides, even if Tenn were to somehow need a substitute…" Purple trailed, raising an eyebrow in Ninty's direction. "…why are you so eager to take her place? And more importantly, do you even have the skills that match up to your sister's?"

"Of course I do!" Ninty insisted, anger flaring to extreme heights. "I just want to play the game- why're you acting like I've got some ulterior motive?"

"Because I've been there," Purple stated like it was obvious, and in a bored tone. "There's something you want really bad, and you're willing to do anything to get it, no matter who you have to push out of the way…but that's not the way to go about things. S'not right, and I almost ended up truly alone because of it…"

"It's not heroic, that's for sure," Alph hummed, and Ninty notably scowled. Coby noticed this and skipped over to the boy.

"Go easy on him guys- it's his first day and it's like you're accusing him of being evil!" Coby stated, and Ninty perked up a bit. Coby smiled back at the psychic, then gestured forward. "With that being said, show us what you got! Tenn said you're defense-based, and the sport does have defensive opportunities, so you will come in handy."

"Yeah, what all can you do?" Starlos demanded to know. Sucking in his cheeks and brushing his hand over his hat again, Ninty took a few steps forward.

"All right, well, obviously I can create a PSI Shield," Ninty began as a purple-blue sphere of energy surrounded him without him moving a muscle. "I can also do Lifeup, Hypnosis, Paralysis, PSI Counter…and whereas Tenn has her signature move PK Energy, I have my own move."

"Oh really?" muttered Starlos, not sounding impressed. "It'd better be good, because none of these sound helpful."

"Hey, Paralysis, Hypnosis, and Counter sound legitimate," Coby offered, with Skippy only shrugging in response. Groaning, Purple turned to Ninty with a challenging look.

"Well, what're you waiting for?" the Pokemon Trainer asked, grinning devilishly. "Show us what you've got!"

"Well then," Ninty mumbled, a small smirk crossing his face as his eyes started gleaming with a silver glow. "…only because you asked."

Coby, Skippy, Purple, Alph, and Starlos just looked on as an electric shock propelled away from Ninty, striking the quintet and rendering them unable to move. Ninty simply chuckled a bit as Coby tried his hardest to move, but only found his energy slowly being drained away from him. He eventually collapsed to the floor, devoid of energy, and the same fate befell Starlos, Alph, and Skippy.

"O-Ow…" Skippy muttered, eyes closing shut while Starlos simply hit the ground.

"I…I can't move at all!" Alph exasperated, slowly losing consciousness. "Can't…stay…standing…"

The astronaut slumped to ground as well, next to Skippy and Starlos. Purple, meanwhile, was miraculously still standing, glaring at Ninty with intent curiosity.

"What…what have you done to us…?"

"A good magician never reveals his secrets," Ninty replied with a secretive grin, wagging a finger. "You wanted me to show you PK Neutralize, and I did, heh heh."

Purple had a lot more to say for sure, but his eyes rolled upward and he too cascaded into the ground. Ninty chortled and glanced around curiously, wondering if anyone had noticed. The only one who could have possibly caught him was Luke, but he was seemingly far too busy with scrawling down notes on paper. Elsewhere, Pink, Angelina, and Lulu were still trying to teach Zelda how to do a cartwheel while Sonic and Shadow were going over important prospects with Damien, Tenn, Junichi, Elysia, and Marcus. The mere fact that Shadow was there intrigued Ninty, and seeing that his fellow substitutes were down for the count, Ninty sauntered over there to check things out.

"…so remember guys, super power of teamwork!" Sonic finished off his latest speech with a fist in the air, and Junichi just moaned in embarrassment.

"We've got it, Sonic," Elysia promised, resting a hand on her hip. "We have to work together to win this. It's like what you said on the first day- it's important to look out for your friends, because they always have your back as well."

"Yes," Sonic replied, pointing at Elysia who started beaming. "Good to see _someone's_ regurgitating my immense wisdom."

"Shoot me," grunted Shadow, and Marcus started snickering. Nevertheless, the Ultimate Life form strolled next to Junichi and struck a confident pose. "However, I'm sure the team will be fine, considering that I have trained this warrior into having better control over his powers, meaning that not only will you have more of an advantage in the game, he has finally started on the Shadow path-"

"He is not going to end up like you!" Sonic exclaimed, furiously raising a fist. "Junichi will end up with my amazing prowess before he swears up revenge or wields a gun!"

"Yeah right! I'd bet my inhibitor rings that the kid will be able to hold his own and take nothing from anyone before he turns reckless and risks his neck in stupid stunts."

"…ah," Junichi huffed, his ears drooping as Sonic and Shadow proceeded into a heated battle of words. Elysia just rolled her eyes and snagged Junichi's wrist, pulling him over to the other three members of the team.

"Anyway, seeing as we've lost our coaches for a good ten minutes, I'll take over the conversation," Damien stated, looking tall and confident. "Basically, we'll just reprise our usual winning strategy."

"Sounds good," Marcus stated, punching a fist into his palm. "Elysia and I are ready to bring on the defense! Our power combo kick won't let anything get into our goal!"

"I…don't think it's quite that great, but I like your confidence," Elysia grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "But I'm sure even less could get by us if my Power Suit was allowed during the tournament, but it's counted as a weapon, so…"

"We haven't had to worry about that since you're also well-trained physically," Marcus pointed out with a smirk. "We'll do fine tonight! I mean, it's Villain Prep. They don't even HAVE a gym! How are they supposed to even know how to play?"

"I heard that the new teachers over there rigged something up, so the students have some experience," interjected Tenn. "We've also seen how they fight, so we know some of their attack patterns."

"But we don't even know who's on their team," Junichi added quietly.

"It shouldn't be that hard to figure out," scoffed Marcus. "I mean, there're still only seven kids over there, right? And they only need five for a team…"

"Which means that the most likely candidates for sitting out would be Connor and Dash," Damien deduced. "And we know Junior has his fire breath and hothead temper, Zeborah's fire powers and acrobatic ability, Penji's ice powers and lighthearted demeanor, Darcy…who really doesn't pose much of a threat, but she's got a little strength behind her punches and kicks I suppose."

"But then there's Holle," Elysia put in. "She's got those crazy glowing powers, but most of her attacks are with her staff, and she hasn't shown physical capability. Are we sure that she's even playing?"

"Who else would?" Damien asked, ending the conversation there. He picked up a ball and turned to Junichi. "All right kid, we've got to make sure that your ball striking skills are still up to par. Marcus is going to be goalie, and you, Tenn, and I are going to take turns making shots."

"Yes!" Tenn cheered, jumping into the air. "Finally something that appeals to me!"

"Woo hoo! Stuff is going to be thrown at me!" whooped Marcus, sprinting towards the net. Damien smiled and placed the ball in front of Junichi, who took a few steps back and curled into a purple ball. A few seconds later, he threw himself at the ball and struck it with all his might, effectively slamming it into the net with Marcus having little time to defend.

"Wow!" cheered Elysia, hugged the hedgehog. "Forgot what Shadow said- you don't even need your powers to be amazing!"

"Thanks…Ellie…" Junichi gasped out, being smothered by the hug. Elysia finally released him and proceeded to get into position for defense. Marcus retrieved the ball and tossed it back out, with Damien stepping in front of it and calling upon his inner abilities.

"Farore's Wind!"

Damien's voice was a vibrant cry after a brief silence, a sudden wind whipping up from nowhere and being controlled by Damien. The prince spun around, dancing with the wind, before reaching his arm outward, sending the wind and the ball forward. Despite the fancy display, the shot was rather easy to block, with Marcus flying forward with Fire Fox and head-butting the ball, sending it back into play. Then Elysia jumped forward, leaping up and aiming at the goal. Her foot connected sharply with the ball, sending it soaring in Marcus' direction. Junichi was severely temped to use Chaos Bind on Marcus, but he promised himself that he would try to stick to his physical capabilities in Power Ball.

Seeing that Junichi hadn't interfered, Marcus front flipped to the ball and gave it a heavy punch. Junichi then snapped back into the action and rushed over in a desperate attempt to spin dash it into the net, but he was much too slow to do so. Elysia rolled over to defend the shot, but she was late as well.

"Come on, guys, get it together!" Damien exclaimed, putting up a shield made of Nayru's Love and deflecting the ball. "Increase your stamina!"

"No…" Tenn suddenly trailed, who hadn't move a muscle and was standing perfectly still with her eyes closed. "When Marcus hits the ball back, Elysia, you pass to Junichi; Junichi, you pass to Damien; and Damien, you lob it into the air."

Damien instantly balked at the proposition. "Are you crazy? That's a horrible plan, we need a full-on frontal assault-"

"Faith in friendship!" Elysia and Junichi said with a corny flair, keeping their eye on the ball as Marcus returned it. Elysia went forward with Tenn's plan, running straight to the ball, leaping up and spinning around, the side of her fist striking the ball and sending it down at Junichi. Junichi instantly curled up into a ball, bouncing on the ground until the actually ball came his way. Catapulting off the floor, he sent the ball over to Damien, who was focusing his energy once again.

"You'd better hope this works," Damien sighed, raising his hands and shouting, "DIN'S FIRE!"

Instead of a dome like the spell normally was, Damien had it take shape as a large pillar of fire, which made contact with the ball the moment it flew over to him, sending it careening into the air.

And that's what Tenn took over.

With the ball lingering in midair, it gave her time to press her fingers to her forehead and charge up one of her PSI moves. By the time the ball had started its descent back to the gym floor, a furious purple spark of electricity sparked to life, which intercepted the ball and proceeded to take control of it.

"PK…" Tenn slowly raised her arm over her head before lashing out with it. "THUNDER!"

If one were to blink, they would have missed the sight of the electric-charged ball tear through the air, aimed directly at the center of the net. Marcus' ears quickly pressed to his head and he jumped up, and the ball zipped harmlessly between his legs and thudded against the net.

"Yes!" Tenn cheered, flashing her hand forward with a peace sign. "Okay!"

"And that's why we have no chance of losing!" Marcus exclaimed, and as Damien nodded in agreement, Elysia and Junichi chuckled and slapped a high five.

"Yes…you appear to have a very impressive record indeed!"

Damien, Elysia, Junichi, and Marcus instantly turned to the sound of Ninty's footsteps and clapping, but Tenn's cheerful demeanor vanished as she narrowed her eyes and strolled over to her brother in a challenging manner.

"Shouldn't you be over with the substitutes where you belong?"

"At ease, sis. I simply wanted to observe how the pros play, considering I'll be playing with them tonight."

"Oh, you've got a lot of nerve," Tenn growled, and Damien and Marcus exchanged glances in the background. "You are not replacing me, no matter how many times you flaunt your empty words."

"Well, you shouldn't be so sure of yourself either," Ninty pointed out. "Principal Mario's motto IS to never be overconfident and arrogant…unless you're Sonic, but even he has his limits."

"That certainly doesn't stop you, ya little-"

"Please take it easy, you two," Elysia interrupted, springing between them and holding them away at arm's length. "I may not know the reason why you two have such an animosity with each other, but all this bickering won't solve anything. Not even Damien and Zelda are this bad."

"Well at least they're both on the same side, even when they fight," Tenn muttered under her breath, and Ninty gave her a fierce glare in return.

"Please, this is Ninty's first day, and instead of making him uncomfortable, you should embrace the fact that he is finally taking the same steps we're taking into becoming heroes," Elysia stated firmly, aimed at Tenn. "We've got the biggest match of our lives later today, and the rest of the school day ahead of us, and there's no reason to stress ourselves out."

"I agree with Ellie," Junichi susurrated, scuffling his feet against the floor. "There's no point for all these harsh words…"

"You really need to stop following Elysia's views on everything," Ninty said with brutal honesty, and actually wasn't trying to be snide this time. "Start thinking for yourself, kid."

"I do think for myself, and I think Ellie has a good view on the world," Junichi whispered, feeling less confident with each passing second. "There's nothing wrong with having similar positive opinions-"

"You totally depend on her too much!" Ninty exclaimed, even throwing his hands into the air. "For crying out loud, man, space yourself!"

"That's enough, Ninty!" Tenn exclaimed fiercely, with Elysia's jaw dropping and Junichi notably trembling. "This is exactly why you shouldn't be at Hero High, all you ever do is ruin things for other people! Mom and Dad are so WRONG about you!"

"We are so going to lose tonight," Damien muttered under his breath as Marcus glanced over to Junichi. The blue fox's eyes instantly bugged out as he started tugging on Damien's cape.

"D-dude, Junichi's totally on fire…"

"What?!"

Damien whirled around on the spot to face his hedgehog friend. Junichi wasn't on fire, so to speak, but his eyes were red and he was full-on _glowing_ in blistering crimson. Damien instantly gaped and ran over while Marcus wondered why these things only happened in gym class.

"Juni, please, this isn't worth getting worked up over!" Elysia exclaimed, gripping Junichi's shoulders. "Don't be like me and almost hurt someone…remember? You're the one that told me that getting angry doesn't solve anything…"

"Who…said…I'm…angry…" Junichi strained to say, the Chaos Energy slowly corrupting him and turning his eyes red. "I…don't know what's…going on…"

Elysia gaped and stepped back as Junichi proceeded to spaz out, his limbs jerking around and certainly freaking out the likes of the cheerleaders and the now recovering substitutes. Ninty turned away from Tenn and frowned at the sight of Junichi, with the hedgehog raising an uncontrolled arm and mumbling, "Chaos Burst."

Ninty gulped and hastily put up a PSI Shield to protect himself, but it wasn't needed. When Ninty realized his shield hadn't absorbed anything, he ceased flinching and looked up, seeing Sonic having restrained Junichi. Sonic picked up Junichi, who was still flaring red and going crazy, and calmly told him to get a grip. Sonic petted his head compassionately a single time, then turned to Shadow with a hard look on his face.

"This is why I said you shouldn't train him."

Shadow said nothing in response as Sonic turned back to the kids, now joined by the others who had flocked over to figure out what was going on. Elysia was the first one to jump up and diffuse the situation.

"At ease, guys. Junichi's emotional Chaos Abilities got the best of him again. As we all know, he hasn't completely mastered them yet, so this is nothing to worry about…they just overloaded him again."

"Yeah, that's all right," stated Angelina, who was seemingly disappointed that there wasn't an interesting story.

"But…his Chaos Levels only get like that when he feels extreme emotion," Starlos pointed out, rubbing his chin.

"But then, what caused it to spike?" questioned Alph cautiously.

Tenn instantly glared down at Ninty, and Ninty himself wore an expression that spoke of condolences, regret, and confusion all in one go. Luke, who had risen off the bench to join the others, kept his gaze locked on the male psychic.

"Either way," Sonic started, still with Junichi locked in the comfort of his arms. "I'll be taking Junichi to Nurse Malon before his mother finds out and has a panic attack. In the meantime, Shadow will finish briefing you on the situation of tonight's match."

"Wow Sonic, you've got a serious tone in your voice," stated Pink, who lifted her cap and scratched her head. "I don't know whether that's admirable or unsettling."

"Well, considering my friend's son has just internally blew himself up with emotions and unstable energy, I think I've got a legit reason to be serious," Sonic replied with a lopsided grin.

"Will he still be able to play?" asked Starlos.

"Yeah, probably. If anyone can patch him up, it's Malon," Sonic winked and whisked himself and the smaller hedgehog out the door. "Catch ya later, kids! Have a good lunch, and see ya at the match!"

Sonic vanished in a blue hue, leaving the other thirteen students to stare at Shadow, who had his arms neatly folded behind his back as he stepped cautiously up to the students.

"I sense a great disharmony among you students today," he began stoically, staring straight ahead and yet addressing all the faces at once. "But you shouldn't let this fracture in your unity allow you to fall apart. In the past, you were all able to pull together and defend this school, and I strongly recommend putting any digressions you may have behind you when the Power Ball match starts tonight."

He paused to let his words sink in, then continued.

"This is your last Power Ball match, and while I could care less about what the outcome ends up being, it means a lot to the Faker, this whole school, and a handful of you guys, so I'm sure you'll want to do a good job. Do you really want a few disagreements to allow a school as pathetic as Villain Prep to upstage you? Stand together, and stay united."

With that, the bell proceeded to ring, and as the words of Shadow's unexpected speech sank in, the children stampeded out the door and onward towards lunch.

Naturally, except for Ninty.

Shadow was all set to leave the gym to attend to his own devices, but when he noticed the eleven-year-old boy gawking at him, he sighed deeply and whirled back around.

"What's up, kid? I'm amazed you didn't take off toward the sound of food like the other students."

Ninty continued to gape for a couple seconds, but eventually he shook it off and tried to muster up something intelligent to say.

"I…Shadow, it IS true that you weren't always a hero, right?"

"I'm still not _entirely_," Shadow said with distain, shaking his head. "I could perform a questionably unheroic act within a heartbeat, but that doesn't make me a bad guy. Sometimes we do the wrong things for the right reasons, but I don't expect you to understand the gravity of that."

"Argh, relax dude, just asking a question," Ninty huffed, holding up his hands. "All I wanted to know is what it's like being an anti-hero."

"And I'd like to know why this piques your interest," Shadow murmured, folding his arms and raising a brow in curiosity. Ninty looked uncomfortable for a second, then settled on replying with a casual shrug.

"No special reason; I just have a simple curiosity."

"Never heard that one before," Shadow grumbled, but he proceeded to reply anyway. "I guess people only see me that way because I do whatever it takes to keep the peace. What people like Sonic and Kirby and Pit don't understand is that if you really want everyone to be happy, you're going to have to accept that a few feelings might become hurt in the process."

"Yeah, whatever," Ninty muttered afterward. "What I want to know is how you can get away with doing all that."

Shadow quirked an eyeridge again. "What, exactly, do you mean?"

"You shoot up people and have a bad attitude and do bad and good things all the time, but no one's ever on your case!" Ninty exclaimed.

"First off, I don't 'shoot people up', and second, this conversation is done." Shadow spun on his heel and stalked off, only acknowledging Ninty with a few parting words. "I recommend getting your priorities straight, kid."

Ninty gaped in his direction as Shadow proceeded to Chaos Control out of the gym. Once the weight of the situation finally soaked in, Ninty snarled and marched out of the gym himself, hoping to grab some lunch before the good stuff was gone.

…and also leaving Purple alone in the gym.

The Pokemon Trainer had been ducked behind the bleachers, still a little groggy from the PSI Neutralize attack, and only now had he realized that there was something up with Ninty. If Tenn's strange behavior wasn't anything to go by either, then Purple didn't know what to believe.

But he certainly knew a way to find out.

He took out his Xtransceiver and instantly scrolled through his list of contacts until he came to the desired one. Pushing the call button hastily, Purple held up the communication device and waited for a voice on the other end.

"Aha, yes, um, sorry to bother you, but something's come up that I think you might be interested in…"

**Third Period, Science and Technology-**

Connor was much more pleased to be in this class, if only because he was destined for praise rather than a slew of insults, although all he really wanted was to be treated as equally as the other students.

However, having your great uncle for your teacher wasn't all that bad of a perk.

As he took a sit in the front as always, Zeborah quickly sprinted into the room in a blend of magenta, tan, and red, throwing herself into the desk next to Connor before Holle could even enter the room. Junior was rolling his eyes once again as he sat on the opposite side of Connor, with Holle glancing around curiously and sitting behind Connor. Darcy saw the crowd of people surrounding Connor and sneered, taking her seat next to Dash. Penji, meanwhile, had started to head over to sit with his friends, but he noticed that Peri was sitting off by herself and looking a little depressed, so he sat beside her.

"You don't mind if I sit here today, do you?" he asked politely, and Peri peered over her glasses and smiled a bit.

"No, not at all. Just don't take me surprise or anything again, okay?"

"I promise I won't," Penji replied meekly, almost shrinking in his seat at the thought of literally giving Peri a heart attack or something of the sort.

"I'll be sitting in the back," Penelope announced obnoxiously, and a scowl appeared on Holle's face. The scowl deepened when Penelope sat herself down in Holle's usual chair, and the Goddess muttered something along the lines of "I'll be having that seat burned at the end of the day".

Ryker chose the seat farthest away from the teacher and all the other students, but no one was paying him much attention at this point.

"Good morning class; so nice to see you again," the teacher began, swiveling around in his chair and assuming a poised position at his desk. "As for you newer students, my name is Doctor Robotnik, and I would like to hope that you'll take on your best behavior in Science and Technology-"

Penelope burped.

"…or maybe I have to come to terms with the fact that this bunch is unteachable," Eggman finally huffed, leaning forward and rubbing his temples.

"I find that you have a very effective teaching method, Uncle," Connor input, and Eggman smiled a bit.

"Too bad no one else thinks so," murmured Junior, and Eggman's face fell again. Sighing, the doctor arose out of his chair and began to pace the front of the room.

"Ahem, anyways class, as this is the start of the third marking period, you all should know that your first semester projects were due last week…but only one of you finished your projects on time, thus we had to postpone presentation until today."

All eyes turned to Connor as he sat a little straighter in his seat.

"And then we have our newer students, who haven't the slightest clue as to what's going on…"

"What is going on, dare I ask?" Steelo began, looking particularly uninterested. Eggman ceased strolling up and down the room and strode over to Steelo, stopping in front of the boy's desk and adjusting his goggles.

"Well, my boy, two weeks ago I assigned these_ fine_ students a project summarizing what they've learned in my class so far, but only one student, who happens to be my great nephew, was finished on time. Thus, everyone else's grades were deducted, which was compensation for an extension on the due date. So, today, everyone will be presenting, except for Connor, who has the hour to himself, as I have already graded his project."

"Favoritism!" Darcy screeched, pulling out her pea shooter and firing a barrage of spitballs. Eggman ducked as the wads of chewed paper made small yet sickening splats on Eggman's electronic board. When Eggman stood erect again, his mustache proceeded to twitch.

"It is most certainly not favoritism, Miss O'Donnell, considering that I wasn't about to have Connor be the only one to present when the rest of you clearly couldn't handle a legitimate deadline. Therefore, I have taken his report and already looked it over, and do you want me to give him a false grade when he certainly doesn't deserve it?"

"Yes," Darcy hissed with acid, but her spit balling came to an abrupt halt.

"If it isn't too much trouble, Uncle Robotnik, I've promised Professor Dragmire that I would plan out a strategy for our Power Ball match later this evening," Connor began to explain, wringing his gloves together somewhat nervously. "And since everyone needs to complete their presentations, I was thinking that I could go over them during our lunch period."

"Perfectly acceptable," Eggman complied, and instantly Connor reached into his pocket and pulled out an inch long piece of technology, but Connor was somehow able to pull on the end and stretch it out to the size of his desk.

Of all people, Penelope seemed impressed.

"Whoa, how'd you do that? Some kind of custom technology?" she inquired, for once not with her mouth full of food. Connor's head perked up, turning to Penelope and raising an eyebrow. Dash was also rather stunned that Penelope even had a brainwave.

"Actually, Penelope, yes. It's a combination of enhanced alloys derived from elements of carbon, cobalt, and zirconium, but I've altered them to work to my advantage, creating a portable screen with the functions of a computer that can be expanded and compressed at will. I call it the Compressible Assistant Tablet, or CAT if you rather."

Penelope nodded, appearing impressed.

"Interesting…"

"Pray tell why you find technology interesting," moaned Holle, and the look on Junior's face said that he agreed. Penelope proceeded to rise out of her seat, giving a look to Eggman as Connor started typing things on his tablet.

"Am I allowed to demonstrate?"

"As long as it appeases me in the end," Eggman muttered, returning to his seat and drumming his fingers on his desk. "Does it relate to science and technology?"

"Of course."

"Hmm. If it impresses me enough, I just might give you a grade for it."

Penelope broke out into a grin as she thudded to the front of the room, receiving several looks as she did so. Holle and Junior were shaking their heads and Penji leaned over to Dash and whispered, "How long is this going to take? She kinda freaks me out…"

"It doesn't matter, as long as I don't have to do my presentation. Mine's really bad."

Back at the front, Penelope suddenly pulled out a remote, grinning ever so devilishly as she began to explain.

"You see, my fellow classmates, Porky Minch had invested in plenty of technology to take out his adversaries…and I have done the same. I've been in this little contraption a couple of times, but I've never actually had the chance to demonstrate its true power!"

She quickly pushed the button, then tossed the remote into the air as it began to transform. All eyes were glued to the remote, even Connor's, of whom had been torn from his strategy making to observe this for himself. Even Eggman was peeking over the rim of his glasses to make sure he was seeing things right.

The remote began to turn into an insect-like vehicle, forming around Penelope until she was completely encased in it. The final product turned out looking like a vicious dragonfly, with Penelope only visible through the glass-encased cockpit just above the dragonfly's eyes.

"This is my Dragonfly Mech, of which I can travel around with relative ease and decimate all my enemies in my path!" she said with a tone that hadn't been present in her voice before, and a maddening cackle followed. "This baby is juiced up with many attacks, of which I can't show you because the classroom would blow up, and I don't think Doctor Robotnik would approve of that."

"FINALLY!" Eggman screamed, leaping out of his desk, falling to his knees, and throwing his arms to the sky. "Someone finally called me by my real name and I didn't have to yell! Thank Chaos above!"

The whole class, including Connor, just blinked.

"Wow, someone has some serious identity issues," Ryker coughed, shaking his head.

"Er…can someone help me back to my desk? I think I threw out my back with the sudden excitement…"

"…in any case, Penelope, why didn't you show us this before? Now I have a reason to take you twenty percent more seriously," Dash asked, scratching behind his ear and blatantly ignoring Eggman. "It's an impressive piece of technology, for sure. How'd you build that?"

"I didn't," Penelope scoffed, but with a wicked smirk. "Magic of money, baby."

"Are you saying that you're rich?" Zeborah suddenly squawked, and Penelope shrugged as she called off her mech.

"Well, I am the heiress to a very successful entrepreneur company, so…yeah."

"All her money goes into fat cakes," sneered Holle, which elicited a snort from Junior. Once Penelope was back on her own two feet, she strolled up to Holle, put her hands on her hips, and snarled in the Goddess' face.

"I'd watch your back if I were you. I'm not fat, either. I have extra pudge."

"Your back is the one that needs watching," Holle spat back, tightening her grip around her staff and agitating the souls within her Soul Ball. "I'm the very person that you don't want to mess with."

"Then don't even think about getting on my bad side," Penelope finalized, tossing her pigtails behind her and returning to her seat.

"Well, Miss Mack, perhaps I was wrong about you," Eggman stated, still on the floor and stuck in his victory position. "It seems like you will be one of my more promising students in this class, considering you've called me by the correct name, you have an interest in technology, you haven't verbally made fun of me, and you haven't assailed me with spitballs."

"Only Eggman could appreciate a slob like Penelope," muttered Steelo, rolling his eyes. "Such a lack of class…"

"Maybe it's because they have the same shirt size," sneered Darcy.

"Ha, you thought that buggy piece of junk was impressive?" jeered Ryker from the corner, causing his classmates to turn and face him. "Seems that you've never seen my tech…"

"Um, duh," Penelope spat back, rolling her eyes. "We hardly know anything about you other than your name for crying out loud! Besides, I have the best technology can buy! You seriously think you can top that?"

"And not to toot my own horn, but I can create that very same technology that's completely on par, if not superior," added Connor, not looking up from the CAT. "Whatever you have probably-"

"OKAY," Ryker suddenly blared, rising from his seat with his machete springing out again. He approached Penelope and thrust the blade up against her neck, far enough that it wasn't touching, but close enough so that she could still feel its proximity. "You guys asked for it…"

"No wonder he doesn't have any friends," Dash whispered to Penji, who in turn looked utterly horrified.

Ryker eventually marched to the front of the room with an extravagant flair, bypassing Eggman who was still locked in position on the floor. He turned in place, retracted his machete, then pressed a different button on a keypad located on his left arm. This time, a small beeping sound rang out…

…and then next thing anyone knew, a hover bike had crashed through Eggman's Classroom wall.

"Ooh, nice bike!" Holle exclaimed, gushing over the black, silver, and purple color scheme and the design itself. "You should give me a ride on that sometime…"

"Do you hear this girl!?" Zeborah screeched quietly to Junior, who proceeded to facepalm.

"Yes, this undeniably impressive bike was given to me by my…guardian," Ryker explained, the orange in his eyes seeming to spark. "He also gave me the battle suit that I am currently wearing right now."

"What's it powered by?" asked Connor, not looking up from his own musings. Ryker growled a bit, and Peri, Darcy, and Penji did not fail to see a pair of fangs protruding when he did so.

"I'm afraid that's confidential," Ryker finally stated, using a very controlled tone as he hit a button on his wrist. The Battle Suit around him suddenly bulked up, brimming with foreign tech and no one wanted to be on the wrong end of the weapons it possessed. "But let's just say there's enough power in my suit to decimate entire cities."

"That's like saying your suit is an atomic bomb," Dash deadpanned, and Ryker didn't rise to deny the claim.

"Trust me, if you want a demonstration of what I'm fully capable of, I'd be happy to show you. I just can't guarantee a chance of survival."

With that, Ryker marched back to his seat and withdrew his battle suit back to its normal state, with no further questions asked. Not even Eggman had anything to say, although he was still stuck in a painful-looking position on the ground.

"…Anyway, let's finally get to our presentations. How many of you actually have completed projects?"

Only Zeborah and Junior's hands went up. Eggman's mustache twitched again with mild annoyance.

"Hmph, well, how many of you are almost finished?"

Penji and Dash's hands went up, and Eggman glowered in Holle and Darcy's direction.

"I haven't even started mine," Holle announced defiantly with a much too pleasant grin. "Not that it matters if I fail or not; I'm still a Goddess no matter what."

"I've been busy!" huffed Darcy, suddenly sharpening her claws with a nail file. "I have much more important things to do than summarize what I haven't learned in this class."

"You can't just blow off these assignments, whether they appeal to you or not!" Eggman said sternly, but it was even harder to take him seriously while he was kneeled on the floor. "In the future, you're going to have to do things that you don't want to, and blowing them off like they're nothing is not going to get you farther in life!"

"Hey, I'm all willing to do an extra credit report on the physiology of the Klink family," Steelo offered. "A evolution family of Pokemon that are entirely mechanical, and work like a well-oiled machine!"

"That's very brilliant of you Sterling, but this speech is more directed at the other lazy students."

Holle just shrugged, Darcy stuck her tongue out, Dash looked sheepish, and Penji appeared guilty.

"I'm sorry, Doctor Robotnik!" the penguin prince bawled, shaking with guilt. "I was almost finished with it, but…there was so much I wanted to include that I ran out of time!"

"Well…I'm not usually so lenient, but I know you're not the procrastinating type, Penji. Thus, you have tonight to finish and then you can present first thing tomorrow."

"Thank you so much!" Penji whimpered, almost on the verge of breaking down with happy tears. Eggman nodded in his direction, then turned to Junior.

"All right, in the remaining time that we have left, Junior and Zeborah can present, and Dash, Holle, and Darcy will get marked down another letter grade for not being complete on time. Holle and Darcy, I'd better see something tomorrow or you'll-"

The bell chose a very impromptu time to ring, with Dash throwing his papers in the air and screaming, "Woo hoo! I don't have to present!" and flying out the door.

Darcy trudged behind him and reminded him that the food wasn't anything to write home about, with the rest of the students quickly scrambling behind them. Penelope notably fought her way to the front of the pack and led the charge.

"…HEY!" Eggman shouted after them, even though his yell fell on deaf ears. "…I'm still stuck here…"

* * *

**Poor Eggman. I do take him seriously, but my crossover stories somehow end with his torment. I really don't even try to make it that way, it just happens. o-O **


	4. Thinking on Full Stomachs

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 4: Thinking on Full Stomachs

**Nurse's Office-**

"…how much longer is this going to take, Malon?" Sonic asked impatiently, sitting in a cushiony blue chair with his arms folded, legs crossed, and foot bouncing with a lack of restraint.

"I'm almost finished, Sonic- have some faith in me," Malon assured with a small smile, standing over Junichi, who was still faintly glowing red with eyes to match, donning a stare that was equivalent to a robot's.

"C'mon, just play the Song of Healing and send him to lunch!" Sonic exasperated, now shuffling and fidgeting.

"Man, you're more restless than the one who should be impatient!" Malon exclaimed, shaking her head. "But, it's not that simple, Sonic. Junichi is locked into the energy that fuels his Chaos Burst, which is usually associated with his anger."

"But hardly anything angers him," Sonic pointed out, scratching his head. "I mean, he's prone to being upset, but anger? That's Elysia's thing."

"We should just be blessed he wasn't locked into Chaos Nightmare! He could've really hurt somebody!" Malon exclaimed, now shining a light into Junichi's red eyes. "What was he doing just before his emotions spiked?"

"He was practicing for the Power Ball match," Sonic explained, shaking his head. "But I suddenly heard Marcus yelling something at Damien, so I turned around and he was blazing red and almost attacked that new kid with a Chaos Burst…"

Malon looked a little surprised. "Luke Triton?!"

"No, that other one. Nickel; or something close…"

"Ninty?" Malon deadpanned, and Sonic nodded. "Hmm…maybe there was something he said that angered Junichi? He's been getting more assertive, you know."

"Yeah, thanks to Shadow," Sonic grumbled, glowering at the floor. "He's turning Junichi into a war machine, I swear…"

Malon sighed and placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Sonic, you know that Shadow's the best person to help channel Junichi's powers, simply because Shadow has a lot more experience with it than you do. You can't deny that it's helping, and Junichi's been more fluent with his powers recently, which is a good thing. However, he's not perfect yet, and we can't expect him to be. We can't help when this happens…."

"I know, I just…" Sonic's gaze softened as he slid down in his seat. "I feel like I'm failing him. It's times like this when he needs me most, and I can't help him in the way that I should…"

"But you're doing what you can, and that's what counts," Malon assured, trying to get Sonic to smile. "There's a reason why Amy picked you to be his male guardian-"

"-without my consent-"

"-and she wouldn't trust her son to anyone unless she knew that they could be trusted. The decision to have Shadow train Junichi with his abilities was a big one for Amy, and it's not like she did it because she wants Junichi to follow Shadow's footsteps- it's because that's what best for him."

Malon then pulled away, and a teasing smirk grew on her face, albeit a tiny one.

"Say, you're not jealous that Amy picked Shadow to help Junichi over you, are you?"

"No," Sonic grunted back, giving Malon a look.

"Good, because Junichi needs you to be his go-to guy when things go wrong. Shadow's not exactly someone you go to with a sob story."

"Despite that, he has many of his own," Sonic chuckled, finally cheering up. Malon smiled back, then turned back to Junichi and pulled out her flute.

"I'm afraid to snap him out of this trance, because it might prevent him from being able to use Chaos Burst, and I don't want to handicap him…after all, it looks like he's detached from reality or something."

"You know his powers run on autopilot," Sonic pointed out, becoming stern again. "When the Chaos Energy gets too high, they take control of his personality and thought processes, which is why he attacks without warning and becomes out of character. All you need to do is lower the levels again and he'll be back to normal."

"Sounds kind of dangerous….what if the energy completely corrupts him somehow?" Malon asked. "Maybe we should siphon some of it into a Chaos Emerald to prevent it from getting that bad or something…"

"You don't know how the Chaos Emeralds work, and that's something I can finally say with certainty," Sonic replied with a headshake. "But, I'll admit you may be onto something. I'll…talk to Shads about it. Right now, I think this kid needs to be fed some of Peach's finest."

"In that case, I'll lower his energy levels manually, but it won't prevent another spike from happening," Malon explained, placing the flute to her mouth and beginning to play. Sonic watched with curious eyes as the maddeningly red aura around Junichi faded away, and his strikingly crimson eyes finally turned back to their normal grey. At long last, Junichi blinked and glanced around.

"Um…what happened?"

"Nothing to worry about, sweetie- you're okay now!" Malon assured, handing Junichi a blue lollipop. "If anything goes wrong again, you know where to find me. I'm always happy to help!"

"All I remember is Ninty making fun of me and everything kinda blotted out," Junichi explained, popping the sucker in his mouth and trotting innocently enough to lunch. The end of Sonic's mouth curled into a frown, trudging out of the nurse's office behind him.

"Thank, Malon."

"Of course- gotta keep our heroes healthy, right?" Malon replied with a small shrug.

"Yeah, about that…everyone's gathering in the Teacher's Lounge at the end of lunch. Feel free to attend as well- it just might be interesting."

Malon's glowing demeanor dispersed instantly, watching Sonic's blue form vanish beyond the other side of the door. Confused, she ran her fingers through her long auburn hair and pondered.

"Huh, I wonder what's going on…?"

**Cafeteria-**

Junichi entered the cafeteria, moving at a brisk pace, yet refusing to run in case his seventh hour teacher was lurking around for someone to scold. He hurried to where Peach was serving a hot ham and cheese sandwich to Purple, who turned to face Junichi and looked concerned.

"Hey, are you all right, kid?" Purple asked, a lopsided look on his face. Junichi nodded as he put his tray on the counter to be served.

"Yes, I'm okay. Something Ninty said made me mad and I was locked into Chaos Burst…but I'm all right now! I don't even remember what Ninty said!"

"Well, here's some advice," Purple said lowly, even leaning down to be out of earshot of Peach. "Ninty is a pretty shady character…the way he acted in gym, his questions in history, why Tenn is so apprehensive about him…we don't know much about him, but I've learned he could be dangerous. Just be careful- that kid has some weird tricks up his sleeves."

With that, Purple spun around and headed off to sit with his group, with Junichi only able to blink.

"Junichi," Peach suddenly spoke up, staring down at him with a smile. "Would you like chocolate milk or fruit punch, and a hamburger or a ham and cheese?"

"Fruit punch and a hamburger today," Junichi replied automatically, the princess whipping out the drink on the spot. Peach then twirled around and called out to a distant part of the kitchen.

"Kawasaki, we need a hamburger!"

"Comin' right up!" a happy-go lucky voice echoed from the back, and within a few short seconds came a orange-colored chef with Junichi's hamburger. Junichi smiled when the food was placed on his tray, and Peach patted Kawasaki on the head.

"I'm so glad Mario hired you! It's been nice having some extra help around the kitchen…and doesn't insist on eating all the food," Peach stated, and Kawasaki beamed in return.

"Well, it's an honor to help a princess! And after all, all the students really enjoy my cooking, and I'm more than happy to share my talents!"

"Thanks you guys," Junichi stated simply and swiftly, hurrying over to join Damien, Zelda, Elysia, and Coby, with Coby almost being finished with his food.

"Juni, you made it!" Elysia exclaimed, pulling away from her delicious-looking taco. "How'd the nurse's office trip go?"

"I'm okay, although my head hurts a little now," Junichi explained, taking a seat next to her.

"Well, good thing you made it- we're almost finished!" Damien exclaimed, taking a gracious bite of his salad. "I'll be heading to the library soon myself- I need to speak with my mother before fourth hour."

"Like you do every day," Zelda huffed, angrily chewing a bite of her Shroom Steak.

"But hey, Junichi," Coby began, having finished off his lunch already. "What was Purple whispering to you? I know you two are friends and all now, but that's still a little suspicious…"

"All he said was to look out for Ninty…" murmured Junichi, his gaze turned to the table that Purple had taken a seat at.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with him, although I know he's a powerful psychic," Coby replied, pulling his mask over his face. "He's got a power that can drain people of their energy instantly…and multiple people at once! He took out me, Purple, Starlos, and Skippy in one move!"

"Yikes," Elysia gulped, shrinking in her seat. "Sounds like my own energy draining abilities…but mine are permanent."

"And also only one at a time," Damien pointed out, and Elysia shot him a hidden glare.

"Hey, if you have the ability to dispatch a group of people at once, then that's pretty cool," Zelda said aloofly. "If we ever become outnumbered and outmatched by a bunch of bad guys, then Ninty can just neutralize them and it'll be a hands down win!"

"Yes, but there's not much honor in winning like that," her brother responded, causing her to pout. "Seems more like a dirty trick than anything to me…"

"In any case," Junichi muttered with his gaze still locked on the other table. "Maybe it is best to be careful around him…"

The other four followed his stare, wondering just what was up with Ninty.

The male psychic was sitting awkwardly across from Tenn at the round table, who was angrily devouring her ribs in a ravenous fashion. She was placed in between Pink and Angelina as always, with the angel enjoying a cupcake and the Pokemon Trainer spending her lunch hour tending to her Pokemon. Next to Pink was Purple, and next to Angelina was Starlos, who both had the pleasure of sitting next to Ninty as well.

It was only quiet because no one wanted to start anything between Tenn and Ninty, although Purple was incredibly unable to sit still for whatever reason.

"So…um, Ninty," Pink began, and the likes of Purple and Tenn froze. "How do you like Hero High so far?"

"There's certainly something new around every corner," Ninty replied casually enough, proceeding to take a bite out of his pizza. "Definitely keeps you on your toes."

Tenn took a particularly loud and violent chomp out of her lunch, and Angelina scooted two inches away from her.

Of course, that prompted Starlos to sing, "Awkward…"

Pink and Purple exchanged glances and tried to focus on their lunch and Pokemon, but when Adeleine waltzed curiously into the room, Purple instantly spun around in his chair and awaited what was to happen next. Pink gave him a quizzical look, but said nothing.

"Hello, students," Adeleine greeted with a wave, her gaze drifting down to face Ninty. "Sorry to interrupt your lunch, but the school counselor would like to see you for a moment, Ninty."

"Ooooooh," came from Angelina and Starlos, while Tenn just glanced up curiously. Ninty only raised an eyebrow and rose from his seat, following Adeleine to his next destination.

"What do you know? He's hasn't even been here a day and he's already in the counselor's office," commented Pink. She then blinked and glanced at Purple. "Oh wait."

"Let's go follow them," Purple suggested out of the blue, ignoring Pink's remark, rising from his seat, and stalking out the door.

"What?! No!" Pink exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing Purple's wrist. "That's a violation of privacy! You wouldn't want anyone listening in on _your_ meetings with Miss Rose, would you?"

"Hmph, I already know Starlos listens in on my Wednesday meetings."

"I do _not_!" Starlos exclaimed, blatantly appalled. "…I only listen every _other_ Wednesday. And Fridays. Duh."

"Well, it certainly would be a gold mine for some gossip," Angelina suggested with a shifty look in her eye. "Maybe we'll find out just what's off about Ninty."

"I strongly advise against it," Tenn sighed, her tone completely devoid of all its original spunk. "But if you really want to know what's up with my brother, then that's probably the place to do it."

Pink, completely flabbergasted, turned from Purple and gaped at Tenn. "Wha- you want to go along with this? This is your brother we're talking about, and you're willing to let a bunch of kids in on his most personal thoughts?"

"Not on his thoughts- on his true personality," Tenn hummed, shaking her head. "I'm not supposed to say anything…but if you find out from somewhere other than me, then you'll understand."

"Ooh, that's it, I'm going!" Angelina squealed, literally flying out of her seat and out the cafeteria doors. "I can't resist the lure!"

"If she's going, I'm going!" Starlos cried, stumbling out of his chair and waddling after her. "Wait up!"

Tenn left next, and was promptly followed by Purple. Pink was left in her seat with her jaw slacked, and eventually Purple turned back around.

"Are you going to stay here by yourself, or are you coming with us?"

"B-but, but…" Pink stammered, grasping for an answer and debating on whether or not to take Purple's now outstretched hand. "Listening in…it's not heroic…"

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry you don't approve of my methods of being a hero, but I need to get to the bottom of this," Purple susurrated afterward, finally whirling around and taking off after Tenn. Pink frowned for several antagonizing seconds before letting out a conflicting cry and running after her friends.

Marcus, Lulu, Skippy, Alph, and Luke, who were gathered at the third table, just watched with mild interest at what had just taken place. Luke had sampled everything that Peach's menu had to offer, as he was quite the food connoisseur (or _consumer_), and also asked for tea. The other four were a little more used to the nearly unlimited choices on the menu, but Alph was particularly fond of the Pikarats, which he fed to his variety of Pikmin.

"Should we go after them?" Lulu asked, turning to Marcus. Marcus shook his head.

"Nah, if anything exciting really goes down, I can just read one of their minds."

"Eek, I always forget you can do that," Skippy yelped, grabbing his hat and pulling it farther over his head. Marcus chuckled slightly and freed his best friend from his hat confinement.

"Quit worrying, Skip- you know I hardly ever use my powers. I'm awesome enough without them!"

"And here comes the ego," Lulu sighed with her eyes rolled.

"At least it's a modest ego," Alph pointed out, only to have to watch as Marcus struck a pose and started ranting. Lulu shot Skippy a look.

"Yes, so modest. It's so palpable I can cut it with a knife."

"They're following Ninty to the school counselor's office," Luke announced aloud, watching them parade down the hallway. "As suspicious as that is, it could help shed to light on Ninty's ulterior motives."

"If he even has any," stated Marcus, shaking his head.

"I dunno guys; he really scares me," Skippy said, starting to quiver in his seat. Marcus blinked and turned to Skippy.

"What do you mean?"

"In gym class, Ninty used his signature psychic power to drain Skippy and I of our energy!" Alph exclaimed, looking frightened. "It was horrifying!"

"I know, I saw…" Luke admitted, frowning deeply. "I was about to call Ninty out on it, but then he sauntered over to the Power Ball team and initiated that response from that purple hedgehog. What was that, anyway?"

"Junichi has a rainbow of Chaos Abilities at his disposal, but they are unstable and also tied to his emotions," explained Lulu. "Any time one of his emotions spikes, one of his powers will activate, and if he's not controlling it, he'll get locked into the mindset, like what happened at gym."

"Junichi's pretty good at controlling his own emotions, but when someone else provokes them, it's a lot harder for him," added Alph. "I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't control my Pikmin…"

"And Ninty had went over there and caused that response from him…but was it on purpose?" inquired Luke.

"No," stated Marcus and Lulu.

"Probably!" exclaimed Skippy and Alph.

"…Okay, we probably shouldn't jump to any conclusions yet," stated Marcus, shaking his head. "It really isn't a good idea to speculate too much on this."

"I agree- assuming is bad," Luke concurred. "However, I think I need to speak with either Tenn or Purple when I get the chance- both have been close to Ninty; maybe they know something we don't."

"Or they're _about_ to find out something we don't," Lulu added with a shake of her head.

**School Counselor- **

Purple was the first one at the door to the counselor's office, creeping up quietly and delicately placing his ear against the door. Angelina was naturally second, flying above Purple and leaning on the top part of the door. Tenn was on one side of Purple, and Starlos was on the other side of Purple.

"How come they aren't saying anything yet?" Starlos whispered harshly, and Purple waved his hand at him.

"Because, Miss Rose likes to spend a few minutes looking over the situation before addressing the student. Trust me, I've been through it enough times to know the drill. She's probably still leafing through his folder."

"It shouldn't take that long- he just got here, wouldn't it be a remarkably small folder?" scoffed Angelina.

Tenn kept quiet, her tongue shoved far into her cheek.

"This is so wrong…" came Pink's newcomer voice, causing the four students to jump upon her arrival. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her capris and shook her head. "I'd expect this from Angelina and Starlos, and maybe Purple on a bad day, but you, Tenn?"

Tenn stayed in silence.

"C'mon, Tenn, you know this isn't right," Pink urged, taking a cautious step forward. "I don't know what about your brother drives you up the wall, but you have to ignore it. You're not yourself, and not only is that going to affect your playing tonight, but it's going to affect you for the rest of the school year, because Ninty's here to stay, whether we like it or not. Just because he arrived doesn't mean that Tenn had to leave."

Pink took a few steps forward and held out her hands.

"C'mon, I miss my positive, optimistic psychic buddy…and I just want to see her smile again."

Tenn's gaze softened, and she was about to reply, but Starlos suddenly shrieked, "They're talking!" and was smacked by Purple.

"Keep quiet, fool! We're going to get busted!"

When Pink saw that no one was listening to her, again, she sighed and wedged herself between Purple and Tenn, glumly caving in.

On the other side of the door came the shuffling of Ninty's shoes on the floor, and the plunking of the counselor's boots on her desk. She peered over her unnecessary glasses at the folder placed in her lap, but she finished skimming it quickly and addressed Ninty with nothing more than a shift in her gaze.

"….hmmm."

Ninty was shockingly intimidated by just that notion in itself.

Finally, Amy sighed and removed her glasses, setting them on the desk, then folding her hands in her lap.

"Okay, Ninty…" she began with a calm tone, one that rocked Ninty to the core with a chill. "Another student has contacted me and informed me that you've been having an…interesting first day. It surprised me actually, but by what I was told, I can understand why your…attitude had brought forth some concern."

"Oh yeah?" Ninty brought forth some bold words and hoped he could back them up. "What exactly did I do?"

"You're kidding me, right?" Amy huffed, lashing back with controlled but fierce words of her own. "The moment you walked through that door, you've been antagonizing your fellow students, you apparently drained four students of their energy in gym class, Nurse Malon told me that you drove my son into an angered state and caused him to lock himself into a dangerous condition…but not even that is the biggest thing that stands out to me, although I am rather _upset _at that morsel of information."

"It's not my fault I told him the truth," Ninty scoffed, folding his arms and challenging Amy. "He's too dependent on people, and that's what screws him up all the time!"

"And you think he doesn't know that?" Amy seethed, lowering her legs off the desk and slamming her palms on the desk. "He's much better than he was at the start of this year, and Junichi certainly doesn't need you to waltz out of the blue and point out his faults! He could've really hurt himself and the other students this morning if Sonic hadn't acted…he never gets that mad, so whatever you said to him must've really put him off."

Pulling herself together, Amy leaned back in her chair, taking deep breaths and rubbing her temples. Ninty still had a daring look on his face, but he waited with baited breath as to what Amy had to say next.

"….but like I was saying, that isn't what disturbs me the most. In second hour, you were questioning why one should be a hero all the time…and not even half an hour ago, you were asking Shadow what it was like being an anti-hero."

"How the heck do you know all that?" Ninty demanded, appearing exasperated. A dark smirk played on Amy's expression.

"I'm the school counselor. I know everything about everybody, whether you want me to or not."

She leaned forward again, staring straight at Ninty and intimidating him once more.

"But, is there anything _you _want to tell me, Ninty?"

"Not anything I'd expect you to understand," Ninty hummed back, drumming his fingers on the armrest of his chair. "I'm not really the chatty type."

"Oh, but I have my ways of getting people to talk," retorted Amy, her hand reaching down and clasping around the handle of a large red and yellow hammer, hefting it over her shoulder with ease. "I don't have to use this very often, but if I'm able to even hit Sonic with it, I don't have think twice about anyone else…"

The silence grew loud in the room, all conversation dying off and fading away. Ninty looked perplexed for several moments, almost as if he was piecing together a well-constructed response. He wasn't as afraid of that infernal hammer as he was of pouring his thoughts out to someone who was still practically a stranger.

And worse than that, a counselor.

"Think about it like this, Miss Rose," Ninty began slowly, his tone concealing everything he had to hide while revealing it all the same. "Do all heroes start out as such? Is everyone born distinctively good or bad? Or do we all begin with varying shades of gray? You can argue that every faculty member in this school has a pure heart, or that all the teachers in Villain Prep are dark to the core, but that wouldn't be true. If the villains over there are able to have even a bare minimal shred of light in their souls…then why can't heroes ever have the slightest shadow to them?"

He clasped his hands together and smiled at Amy in a catlike fashion, as if presenting a winning argument in a court case. Amy stared back with intrigued contempt, but Ninty continued speaking before she could get in a word edgewise.

"It's actually a very unfair world we live in, with the bad guys doing good things and being shunned anyway, and good guys acting up when our backs are turned and being placed on pedestals anyway…there really isn't such a thing as good or bad- it depends on your perspective. Or, perhaps, that good and evil do exist, but there's an unbalanced amount within us all…not everything is black and white, you know. The world is varying shades of gray, but everyone always wants things to be so clear and obvious that everything is categorized as one thing or another."

Ninty stood and inched toward the door, as if he was the one running the conversation, or that he was the one who had called Amy to the room for a lecture, and not the other way around.

"Heroes aren't as great as society makes them out to be, and maybe if you were to look close enough, villains aren't so bad. No one ever thinks about it like that…"

"That…I….what…" Amy found herself spluttering, having a really hard time coming up with a rebuttal.

"What?" Ninty asked with feigned innocence. "You asked what I wanted to tell you, and I just did. Take it as you will- I've got the rest of my pizza waiting for me."

"…hmph," Amy mumbled, lacking a more intelligent beginning. "The way you talks makes it sound like you're siding against heroes."

"Just the opposite, Miss Rose," Ninty protested, spinning around and facing her once again. "I don't enjoy taking sides. It's easier just to go with the flow."

. . .

"Do you have a better idea about how he is now?" Tenn stated with a firm look.

"But Tenn, there's gotta be more to it than that," Angelina realized, lowered herself down to be level with the female psychic. "I mean, he just sat in there and spewed a pretty legitimate argument on the morals of good and evil, and Miss Rose couldn't even counter it. That's pretty complex for an eleven year old."

"I have to agree," Starlos shrugged. "He doesn't seem shifty, just…misunderstood or something."

"That doesn't change the fact that he willingly knocked out his fellow students during gym class," Purple pointed out with a frown. "Ninty can be all psychological as he wants; it doesn't change the fact he's hiding something."

"Can't we just accept the fact he has a different view on life and get out of here before we get in trouble?" Pink pleaded. "He's not even worth our time like this-"

"You're all totally missing the point!" Tenn exclaimed, suddenly becoming animated again. "Ninty can't be trusted by anyone, not even-"

"What are you kids doing?"

Pink, Purple, Tenn, Starlos, and Angelina all screamed and collapsed into a disorganized heap on the floor. Black and red shoes walked up to them, with the left one beginning to tap impatiently.

"Are you so lonely at lunch that you have to sneak up on a bunch of teenagers?" Purple murmured insatiably after seeing who it was.

"Are you so ruthless and underhanded that you have to listen in on people's psychiatrist sessions?" Red replied, voice devoid of any humor.

"I dunno, Purple's got a point," Pink moaned, pulling herself out of the pile. "Do you have nothing better to do during lunch, like, for instance…eating lunch?"

"For your information, I was on my way to the Teacher's Lounge for a meeting, and it's pretty important," Red explained, folding his arms. "If I wasn't in a hurry, all of you would find yourselves in the presence of Principal Mario, so be blessed that I'm only giving you a warning. All of you should know better."

"Yes, Red…" the students chimed in unison, standing up and trudging away from the door. Red gave them a firm nod as another warning, then walked briskly down the hall to his own destination. Pink watched him walk away looking miserable, then turned to the group, mainly aimed at Purple and Tenn.

"I told you we'd get in trouble…and by all people-"

"Not now, Pink," Purple muttered, stuck in thought and his hand placed on his chin. Pink gaped at him, with Angelina and Starlos trading looks before hightailing it out of the hall. Tenn glanced back once more before heading off to her locker, and Purple started walking away, his eyebrows narrowed in deep consideration.

"…I hate it when no one listens to me," Pink muttered, stalking down the hall and not sure of where to go.

And Ninty finally emerged from the counselor's office, looking rather diplomatic and sinister at the same time.

**Lunch Room-**

Periwinkle, Sterling, Ryker, and Penelope would never quite get over the shock they experienced when their seven colleagues flooded into the lunch room, snatched up trays, and battled to be the first in line to be served by Medusa. Peri especially recoiled in disgust when Medusa served up some suspicious-looking bright purple goo in a bowl, and Steelo looked particularly disturbed when Holle started licking her lips.

"I'm starving, but I'm not sure if I want that anywhere near my anything," Penelope commented, flinching when Medusa slammed a bowl onto her tray. "…there's no way to get a corn dog, is there?"

"That's the only thing we have on our menu here at Villain Prep," Medusa announced with a condescending flair, glowering down at the four new students. "You should be lucky every day is a different consistency!"

"For some reason, I'm not," Steelo murmured, holding his tray out at arm's length and marching to the only table in the lunchroom, where the rest of the students were sitting at.

"Okay, why're you guys so pumped about this gruel for gruel?" Peri questioned snidely, sitting next to Penji. "I seriously doubt that this is edible."

"That's because it's not," Penji pointed out.

"Aw, why'd you tell her?" Holle asked with disappointment. "I wanted to see her face when she tried it!"

…grimacing, Peri pushed her bowl away with her fork.

"How do you live without eating lunch?" Penelope moaned desperately, sounding like she would keel over at any second. "Eating this every single day? Unfathomable!"

"I do rather like this color," stated Ryker, poking at his bowl filled with radioactive green gruel. He then dared to take a bite of it, with the other nine students gasping and quickly scooting away, almost expecting Ryker to explode. To their horror, Ryker had swallowed, and even dared to go so far as to take a second bite.

"I don't know what you're talking about- tastes fine to me," shrugged Ryker, eating the gruel like it was an endless bowl of ice cream. Everyone looking utterly horrified, and Steelo made it a point to push his bowl very far away and muttering something about starving for the rest of his life.

"Well…here's a secret," Dash began, leaning across the table with a mischievous smirk. "We eat pretty much anything we want at our school."

"Uh, if this is 'anything you want', then I'm a little worried," remarked Steelo, scooping a bite of Medusa's Casserole Surprise and flinging it in Dash's direction. Dash ducked, and the spoonful landed with an acidic splat on the floor, starting to dissolve it.

"Shut up, Sterling; I wanna know what he's talking about!" Penelope snapped, turning back to Dash. "Reveal the secret!"

"Well…" Junior trailed, placing a finger to his chin. "I guess we could tell you, but it'd cost ya."

"What!" Peri shrieked. "I'm hungry! Tell me now!"

"We're evil! We're supposed to rip people off!" Zeborah exclaimed, holding out her hand. "Let's see some cash!"

"Uh, no," Connor interrupted, spinning a ray gun around his finger and shaking his head. "I'm absolutely famished, and I'm not going to wait around for the bribery to fall through. Ryker, Peri, Steelo, and Penny…meet my Molecular Rearranger Zapper, or MR Z for short."

"Molecular Rearranger Zapper?" questioned Peri.

"MR Z?" wondered Steelo.

"…Penny?" guffawed Penelope, looking undeniably bewildered.

With a pleased smirk, Connor aimed his gun at Penelope's lunch first, transforming it instantly into a corn dog. Penelope gaped for several flabbergasted seconds, then hungrily dove into her new lunch.

"Miracle of miracles," Peri whistled, shaking her head.

"Anything specific that you'd like to have, Peri?" Connor asked coyly, gently tapping his zapper in his palm. Peri looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then excitedly clasped her hands together.

"Ooh, I know! I haven't had gourmet lasagna sprinkled with imported parmesan in forever! Do you think you could make that for me?"

"No problem," Connor responded eagerly, taking aim at Peri's bowl of doom and zapping away. In place of the casserole was now a rather extravagant looking meal in a silver bowl with a lid. Excitedly, Peri popped the top off and squealed in joy, grabbing her fork and immediately digging in.

"Oh wow! It tastes just like how my mother's butler would make it!" she exclaimed, delicately wiping her mouth with an embroidered napkin. "How'd you do that?"

"It's how MR Z is designed," Connor said proudly, spinning the device around his finger again. "All I used was a little bit of-"

"HEY! Rest of the class starving over here!" Darcy suddenly blared out, impatiently thudding her fists against the rickety wooden table. Connor glared back in her direction, with Zeborah and Holle instantly taking the rebound.

"With the way you talk to him, he shouldn't feed you at all!" Zeborah hissed, purple flames surrounding her curled fists.

"In fact, Darcy…" Holle began dangerously, a devious grin crossing her face. "…if you're so hungry, why don't you just eat what's in front of you already?"

Holle waved her staff but once, and in a flash, Darcy's bowl of gruel came flying upwards, coating her face with a mask of the stuff and suctioning the bowl to her head. The wolf was instantly thrown into a panic, scrambling around trying to pull the bowl off while several of the students started snickering. Dash was the one to leap to her aid, managing to pull the bowl off her face, but leaving her fur caked with the casserole.

"That's a good look for you," sneered Junior as Darcy furiously sent purple globs flying in all directions. Despite the mess, her scowling expression was hard to miss.

"…okay…" she seethed, rising from the table and marching away. "I'm going to get this crud off my face, and when I come back, there'd better be a huge plate of cookies waiting for me when I come back, or someone's going to have to go through life _decapitated_!"

With that, Darcy vanished out of the lunch room, until only her silver boots could be heard storming away. The students were left in a thick and deafening silence, until Steelo whistled and Connor had started serving everyone else their lunches.

"Just wait until fourth period," Zeborah eventually hummed, reaching for the spicy chicken sandwich that had just materialized.

"Well, I'm not saying that she didn't deserve it, with the way she's been acting all morning," Dash grumbled. "But, c'mon. She's having a bad day; just lighten up a bit."

"A bad day? She's a pain every day!" huffed Holle, drinking from a goblet of Goddess' Drink. "I'm surprised I didn't do that earlier."

"Besides, we're evil!" Junior attempted to justify. "We might be all buddy-buddy and have a small morsel of morality, but we'll always get a kick out of seeing someone suffer!"

"…that sounds really vicious when you put it like that," muttered Penji quietly, and Zeborah leaned forward and petted him gently on the head.

"Aw, it's okay Penji! You're, like, the one exception!"

Peri raised an eyebrow at this, glancing down at the penguin curiously.

"Hmm? The one exception?"

"Yeah," stated Connor, sampling the plate of spaghetti before him. "Penji was supposed to be enrolled in Hero High, but due to the fact that his guardian is aligned as evil, they wouldn't let him…"

"Well that's not very fair," Peri mumbled, peering over her glasses and saying nothing more.

"Anyway, speaking of Hero High…" Connor interrupted, speaking with a prominent flair. The student's discussion dimmed into only the chewing of the food as Connor placed the CAT on the table, then expanded it so it filled the length of the table. "…I think I've got our strategy."

"Ooh, cool!" squealed Penelope, brushing her finger against the CAT's edge.

"I'm really amazed she's actually into something other than food," Steelo murmured quietly to Dash.

"I'm amazed she doesn't drive around in a doughnut car or something."

"Hey, shush!" snapped Zeborah, throwing a fireball in their direction. "Connor is talking!"

Connor took a moment to sigh, then gestured his hand to the CAT's screen.

"Anyway, as you can see, I have managed to break into Hero High's mainframe and gathered up much of the data that Tails and Adeleine have compiled on their Power Ball Team-"

"Erm, who's Tails?" asked Peri, scratching the back of her head.

"And what kind of a name is Adeleine?" huffed Ryker.

"What kind of a name is Ryker?" Dash snapped back.

"Tails is Hero High's technician, tactician, _and_ on-call repair man," Junior replied without missing a beat.

"And Adeleine is one of the only humans in Dreamland. She's an expert painter, good friend of Kirby, and recently became Hero High's secretary," Penji explained.

"Anyway, it appears that their core team is Prince Damien, Junichi the Hedgehog, Elysia Aran-Higgs, Marcus McCloud, and Tenn," Connor began to explain, and no one noticed the sudden pause Ryker took from devouring his meal after hearing the names listed.

"Junichi is the lead scorer due to the arsenal of powers he has at his disposal," Connor continued. "Elysia and Marcus are on defense because of their strength in psychical capabilities, Damien is naturally the captain, and Tenn is head offense, since she is able to use all three types of fighting styles."

"Okay, how are we supposed to counter that?" Steelo asked with mild interest.

"Well, I just calculated their weaknesses, and attributed them to your strengths, in a way that covers your own weaknesses," Connor explained. "One of the more obvious ones is Elysia's vulnerability to the cold, so Peri, you will focus all your attacks on her, which will also prevent your Pokemon from being at a disadvantage to Junichi's, Damien's, and Tenn's fire-based attacks."

"Huh," Peri breathed, nodding with understanding. "That's pretty smart!"

"It sure is," Zeborah swooned happily. Connor coughed and moved on.

"Next, we have Junichi. He has the capabilities to tap into several Chaos Abilities, but a weak yet effective physical makeup. Either we need to overload his Chaos Energy, or somehow force him into relying solely on his spin dash and homing attack. Junior, I'm putting you up to this task because you are the most experienced and adaptable."

"All right," cheered Junior, pumping a fist.

"Okay, Zeborah, I'm putting you in charge of facing Damien. You have the most experience with his fighting style, plus you can render his strongest move, Din's Fire, completely useless, and that will definitely handicap him."

"Whatever you say, Connor," Zeborah giggled. Once again, Connor rolled his eyes.

"…carrying on, then we have Marcus. He excels in hand to hand combat, as previously stated, but he also has access to limited psychic abilities. He doesn't rely on those too often, but if push comes to shove, that's still a quality we'll have to look out for. Penji, you'll be our defense specialist, which is a pretty important responsibility. Are you up for this?"

"I'll certainly try," Penji responded quietly, wringing his mittens together.

"And finally, we have Tenn…as we all know, she can just as easily use kicks and punches as she can use her psychic abilities, and we all know where her strength is. Steelo, you're going to have to be careful with your steel-type Pokemon. Think of it like battling a Gallade, sorta."

"My Pokemon should be fine," Steelo muttered confidently. "After all, my Pokemon will hardly be affected by her PSI, and each of my Pokemon have move that can counteract anything physical she can throw at me."

"Ugh, you guys are getting so technical again…" groaned Penelope. "It makes me hungry!"

"We're almost done, Penny," Connor stated, changing the pictures on the CAT. "Now with that out of the way, we should focus on their replacements in case anything happens. Their replacements are Coby, Starlos, Purple, Skippy, and some kid named Ninty."

Penelope suddenly started choking on her meal. Holle came up from behind her and whacked her on the back with her staff, dislodging the obstruction.

"What?" sneered Junior.

"Ninty goes to Hero High now?!" Penelope exclaimed, still choking, but now on the shock. "Oh no…"

"…and the problem with this is?" Penji inquired with a gulp. Everyone went deadly silent and turned to Penelope as she rose and tapped on Ninty's picture on the CAT. His school profile was displayed in front of everyone, along with his permanent record.

"Whoa…this is totally forbidden…" Peri gasped, the screen reflecting off her glasses.

"…which means my dad will be proud if we snoop!" Junior exclaimed, starting to read. "…aw, nothing seems to be really out of the ordinary."

"Except," Penelope intervened, causing the class to go quiet. "Why he now goes to Hero High to begin with."

"I remember hearing that his parents said that they wanted to wait awhile to see if he was ready for it, and by the second semester, they deemed that he was," Penji pointed out. "Is that not what happened?"

"Nope," Penelope said, enlarging a particular-looking paragraph. "It says here Ninty was only transferred because of something he had done at his old school, and only Tenn knew what it was…but their parents had talked it over and decided to move him to Hero High, to make sure he stays on the path to heroism."

"But it doesn't say what he did?" Dash asked, scrolling through the paragraphs. Penelope shook her head.

"Nope. Only Tenn knows what happened, and she refused to tell anyone…but I think that's only because Ninty threatened her."

"And how would you know that?" Connor inquired with a pop of his collar. Penelope shrugged.

"I don't watch them through binoculars out my window. I just overheard the discussion on their porch."

The kids and teens exchanged glances as Holle muttered, "Okay…"

"I didn't hear exactly what they said, but I'm pretty sure that's what went down," Penelope said confidently. "It's a pretty juicy gossip story, that's for sure."

Penji had started to say something in retaliation, but the bell had cut him off. Connor finished up by saying that they could go over more strategies later, with some of the group scooping up what remained of their lunches and others hurried to class.

After they exited the lunchroom, Darcy finally came back, with bits of purple still plastered to her face. She managed to miss Penji walk right past her, but once she saw that no one remained in the lunchroom, she worked herself up into one heck of a howl.

"Where the _daisy_ is my plate of cookies?!"

* * *

**And this is the point where the story finally picks up...! *fistpump* **


	5. Up for Discussion

**SonicSonic54321: I did draw them out precisely for this reason, but unfortunately my scanner broke just before I could finish drawing them all, and I'm still not very good at using my tablet, so for the time being, there are no pictures for my characters (and hopefully I get my new scanner for my birthday...)**

**But since Alph, Marcus, Skippy, Lulu, Dash, and Luke are official characters (and I'm assuming you know what Bowser Junior looks like), you can look them up and get a general idea. **

* * *

Gaming's Next Generation: Heroes Vs Villains

Part 5: Up for Discussion

The teachers had all certainly heard the bell ring, but the principal hadn't given them permission to disperse. What they had come to discuss hadn't been discussed yet, and being a few minutes late to class could've certainly been welcomed.

Especially since it was only Link's class that was going on.

"Hey," Link said sternly, a firm grip on the base of his cap. "Combat Training is very important, and those few minutes that I'm missing instructing the kids may cost them in the long run! We're supposed to go over super guarding and counter attack techniques today!"

"Relax, dear," Peach said with a chuckle, pulling Link back into his seat. "Just sit down! We're almost finished with the meeting."

"Indeed!" cried Adeleine, reading from a clipboard. "Just one more topic to discuss!"

"I dunno," murmured Kirby, eating from a slice of cake that had come with his lunch. "Super guarding techniques are pretty important."

"Kirby, you're just saying that because you're the best super guarder!" exclaimed Pit. Kirby held up his hands.

"Hey, I'm just saying, maybe we can take five until tomorrow."

"We don't have until tomorrow!" Samus grunted, her hand curling into a fist. "We need to get this done and over with now!"

This caused an uproar amongst the teachers, with the assistant teachers and interns corralling into the corner to avoid the chaos, while some of the other faculty members, like Peach, Amy, and Adeleine, tried to cease the bickering. Principal Mario attempted to bring order back to the group, but it wasn't until Malon entered the room rather meekly did anything manage to reside.

"Wait a second…what's the nurse doing here?" piped up Moe, sitting next to Starfy, who was only shaking his head.

"I told her she could come," Sonic stated flatly, leaned back in his chair with his feet disrespectfully on the table.

"You told Malon about the meeting?" Luigi stated, giving a dejected glare in Sonic's direction.

"And why is that a bad thing, Luigi?" Malon asked, brushing off the front of her dress and inserting herself into the fray.

"Oooooh," came from Meta Knight, Knuckles, and Tails. Malon shot them a very prompt and murderous glare and they snapped into silence.

"I only told her because she helped my son- t'was the least I could do," Sonic muttered back to Luigi, his eyes narrowing. "And yeah, I said it."

"I think it was nice that you invited Malon," said Amy with a soft smile. "She needs to hear this too!"

"…Why couldn't I come?" Malon asked, turning to Mario. Mario was about to respond, but he was promptly interrupted by Red.

"Because, this was supposed to be just for the teachers. Then Peach said that all faculty should be allowed after she heard from _my_ intern-" Red shot a disapproving glance at a boy in the corner with the rest of the interns, who was grinning meekly. "-and that's why everyone else is here."

"Seriously," hummed Falco, drumming his fingers on the table. "Tails and Knuckles should be watching the security cameras, not getting caught up in matters where they don't belong!"

"You wanna try saying that again, feather face?" growled Knuckles, revving up for a punch, only to be held back by Tails.

"Heh heh heh…take it easy, Knuckles! You know Falco can be a bit…abrasive."

"…well I won't pry any more than that," Malon huffed, pulling up a seat next to a regretful looking Luigi. "What's left on the agenda, if I'm not too late?"

Link threw up his hands and muttered something along the lines of "I don't have time for this", until Meta Knight told him that Zelda was substituting for his class, and he calmed down slightly after that. Fox eventually stood up and skimmed a piece of paper in his hand.

"Ah, yeah. Apparently the last thing on the list is just discussing the Power Ball match later."

"Ugh, again? I thought we went over this during the break?" asked Ness, aloofly tossing his yo-yo in every possible direction.

"Yes, but it's come to our attention that Villain Prep may decide to spring a sneak attack on us during the game. We don't want a first day of school repeat, do we?"

A unanimous groan confirmed the notion. Fox nodded and continued.

"Now, as we've all agreed on, the students will be taking the bus to Villain Prep-"

"YES!" cheered Meta Knight, pumping a fist into the air. Seeing that everyone now had their eyes on him, he coughed and retreated back to his seat. "I mean….I will be obliged to offer up my bus driving services as needed."

"Riiight…and as soon as we get in there, we need some volunteers to take point to check for an ambush. I suggest the assistant teachers and interns."

"…that could work," Red stated instantly. Red's intern balked in response. "It'll lure the villains into a sense of false security if they're trying to plan an ambush."

"I'm not sure that's entirely smart, Red…" Ness hummed, glancing over to his own intern, who was cowering slightly.

"Well I'm with Red, for once," Sonic snickered, causing Ness to gape.

"What?! Sonic, you usually side with ME-!"

"I know, but there's a perfect number of interns to do the job, so, why not? Otherwise I'm sure my friends would be happy to do it."

"Ugh!" huffed Moe. "That's like saying the assistant teachers are expendable!"

Sonic was completely affronted. "I am not saying that-"

"You guys."

Sound died out in the room instantly, and all eyes fell upon Shadow, who was in the corner with the rest of the assistant teachers and interns, arms folded, headed ducked down, and trying to pretend like the arguing wasn't getting to him.

"You wonder why the students are beginning to fall apart…when you can't even see that you're falling apart yourselves."

The bitter words of accusation changed the subject instantly, with several of the heroes having gone slackjawed, and others being struck silent.

"…and just what do you mean by that?" retorted Pit, surprisingly scathingly.

"Yeah, I haven't seen any signs of the students falling apart," Adeleine responded with a confused blink. Shadow's red eyes flashed open, his gaze instantly darting in the crowd's direction. Adeleine adjusted her beret, as if challenging Shadow's argument.

"Well, little lady, while _you're_ held up in the office most of the day, the rest of us get to see just how riled up the students have become," was Shadow's defense, holding out his hand in an articulate gesture. "And even the fools that see them every day have allowed the division to grow larger."

"What?!" snapped the likes of Sonic, Ness, Red, Samus, and even Malon, who had been put off just by the notion itself.

"…That's ridiculous," was all Adeleine was able to return, turning away from Shadow.

"You think everything's just fine the way it is now, but I've seen it first hand- your pupils are slowly turning on each other and you're blind to it!" Shadow exclaimed, no longer with the calm, even tone he once had. "But you expect them to perfect and proper and cookie-cutter replicas of you, and yet here you are, unable to stop biting each other's heads off long enough to sit in a room! It's a sickening helping of irony!"

"Enough, Shadow," Peach intervened, hands on her hips. "Perhaps the children have been a bit…disagreeable lately, and the start of the new semester probably has them stressed out. But that doesn't mean they're falling apart! Their friendship keeps them united, no matter what the hardships…"

Shadow gritted his teeth and bared his fangs, biting back the words he didn't dare spew back at the princess. Instead, he heaved a heavy, angry breath, and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" yelped Fox, waving his papers over his head. "We're not finished going over-"

"These matters don't pertain to me," the hedgehog growled, a hand on the doorknob and a foot out the door already. "If you want something prominent to talk about, then discuss how you're going to fix the problem that's slowly brewing…and you'd better do it fast, because I can tell that Ninty is going to be the final nail in the coffin."

Ness notably gulped as Shadow vanished on the other side of the door with an unceremonious slam, and all the people jumped. Silence befell them once again, although it was broken shortly by a coughing fit from Moe.

"Er…you guys aren't always like that, right?" he asked afterward.

"Oh be quiet Moe- you're usually one of the leading causes," murmured Falco.

"Fwee?!" shrieked Starfy, glancing around anxiously.

"Relax buddy, I dunno what that was about, but Shadow's gone now…" Kirby tried to assure with comfort, but it just disquieted once more.

"I…think I should go check on my class," Link finally stated, making a path to the door. Once his green tunic and adventure boots vanished beyond the door, Mario slammed his hammer lightly against the table, indicating the end of the meeting.

**Fourth Hour, Combat Training-**

"Come on, keep at it!" came the bold and authoritative demands of Queen Zelda, elegantly sweeping her gown along the floor as she marched along the row of students. She currently had them practicing some basic physical combat moves, with the likes of Angelina, Luke, and her own daughter struggling greatly. Junichi was only slightly better than them, while Elysia, Lulu, Marcus, and Coby were doing rather impressively.

"Mom! My leg doesn't go up that high! I'm not that flexible!" Princess Zelda complained, trying to kick her leg into the air like Elysia, Coby, and Damien next to her, only to fall backward and land on her back. "Oh…everyone else makes it look so easy!"

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Zelda- I'm not really good in any area of combat," Luke stated with a shrug. "If you want to see some serious combat moves, you should talk to my old friend Emmy. She can take out three thugs in one swift move. I've even seen her chuck a wolf."

"Wow. Awesome!" squealed Skippy, only cuing Princess Zelda to groan and lie on her back.

Queen Zelda ceased her militant routine and glided over to her daughter, attempting to help her up. Kid Zelda shook her head and somersaulted backward, putting herself back on her feet in one swift maneuver. She then hung her shoulders and slightly turned away.

"Oh, this class is pointless. I'm only good with my sword, and you have to be balanced in all three battle types to pass…" she murmured, shaking her head fiercely. "How embarrassing it's going to be, failing my dad's class!"

"Zelda, you're not going to fail," the queen insisted, putting her hand softly on her daughter's shoulder. "You still have a whole semester to get the hang of it."

"Get the hang of what?" insisted the princess, blowing her askew bangs out of her face furiously. "I have the worst physical strength ever, and no powers to my name! Damien won the genetic jackpot in those categories."

"Hey, don't drag me into your squabble," murmured Damien, adding insult to injury by kicking into the air and spinning around while doing so. His sister groaned intensely, and Queen Zelda shook her head.

"Okay then…" She stated quietly, then turned to the class as a whole. Everyone saw that she was getting ready to speak, so they broke out of their battle stances and started to corral around her. "All right everybody, what is it exactly that you are learning in this class?"

"How to be strong in all areas of combat!" cried Skippy instantly, even saluting afterwards to prove his point. Queen Zelda chuckled a little and nodded.

"Yes, exactly. And everyone has their weaknesses, but we only get stronger by overcoming what brings us down…" she trailed off, suddenly striking a battle pose. "Perhaps not all of us are the most gymnastic people around, but we can hone our bodies and psychical prowess through intense training and persistence, and our bodies can become lethal weapons…"

She spun around several times, her arms appearing like slicing swords with each graceful step she took. Queen Zelda then drew a silver bow out of her bag, knocking an arrow and taking aim at the ceiling.

"Some of us might not rely on weapons much, but one day may come the time when we are handicapped from fighting psychically or our powers might be drained…and outside help may be our only option…"

She fired the arrow, the students watching as it made a perfect path through the air, and miraculously managed to pin a fly to the wall…by its wing. Purple whistled.

"One must be prepared to turn anything into a weapon at any given time, and know how to take advantage of the opportunities it offers…"

"She's so wise!" Lulu whispered to Marcus, who rolled his eyes.

"Well of course! She only has the Triforce of Wisdom on her hand! …whatever that is."

"_Only_ Hyrule's most sacred relic! Blessed upon her by the Goddesses for crying out loud!" Damien snapped back, irritated at the lack of tact Marcus possessed. Marcus just held up his hands and backed away a bit.

They returned their attention to Zelda, who now created a dome of fire around her, but she then quickly shielded herself with Nayru's Love, making for quite the dramatic display. Pink and Angelina swooned over how magnificent it was, while Ninty appeared to be hardly impressed at all. If anything, he looked impatient.

"Only few are blessed with the ability to put attacks of their mind into a psychical form…" Queen Zelda continued, a light Farore's Wind dancing around her. "…but powers, and extra special abilities, reside within us all. Just some can tap into it easier than others."

She stepped forward and tapped a finger against Elysia's heart, then Starlos, the Purple, and then Princess Zelda's. Each of them began to glow faintly, lightly radiating power.

"Wha-?!" exclaimed Princess Zelda, glancing at her arms like crazy.

"Whoa," Purple whistled, giving a thumbs up. "Neat."

"Power exists in us all, albeit in different forms… Power is not just being able to call out magic spells or cast strong attacks; we all can tap into it if we really try, giving us the strength to go on when we need it, the ability to fight back with all we've got…or in other cases, something like having enough courage to just forgive. That takes a lot of strength in itself, and not everyone can find it within them to carry it out."

Tenn's eyes suddenly widened, and she dared to sneak a glance over to her brother. He still had the blank and uninterested look on his face, so she tore her gaze away and locked her eyes on Zelda instead.

"I get it," Elysia stated, holding her heart with her right hand. "Some of us may have physical powers…but everyone has emotional powers that can make then even stronger than-"

"Someone like me, with access to many different kinds of Chaos Abilities!" exclaimed Junichi suddenly, gasping with realization.

"Precisely," the queen responded, clasping her hands together. "Take Princess Peach for example- there's a reason why she's so high in everyone's regard, despite her endless kidnappings, even to this day."

For a split second, Zelda appeared incredibly dreary at the mere thought of it, and only some of the students had caught it. She recovered though, and carried on.

"It's the very love everyone has for her, and the love she gives back to all her friends and her subjects that allows her to manifest her feelings into physical power…"

"…Her heart power?" asked Damien, and Zelda nodded once more.

"Yes, and she's not the only one that can perform such feats. Everyone can, with enough love in the world…" a smirk tugged at her lips. "And they think we're crazy for believing love is the most important thing. It's what keeps our universe from experiencing another Big Crash…"

"Which would explain why Mario constantly rescues Peach with no questions asked…" Alph trailed under his breath.

The wisdom bestowed upon the students was almost too much, as some of their minds had simply been blown.

"…and they made you the librarian!" guffawed Starlos, grabbing his heart. "I think I'm gonna faint!"

"Relax, dude," snickered Purple, brushing his fingers through his bangs.

"No, seriously- and they made Link the teacher of this class!" exclaimed Angelina. "I actually learned something!"

"And I actually heard that," huffed Link, entering at the most impromptu time. The students all broke out into a simultaneous "coughing fit" as Queen Zelda waved at him and greeted him.

"Hello, dear! How'd the meeting go?"

"Everyone yelled at each other and Shadow pitched a fit, nothing new," the hero murmured, scratching the back of his neck. "Anyway, thanks for taking over my class. You're too good at it."

"You should teach every day!" cheered Pink.

Link gazed at her for a few seconds before turning back to Zelda. "Yup, definitely too good."

"Sorry," Zelda replied with an aloof shrug, starting to twirl out of the room. "Guess I found myself in my element…see you children later at the game!"

"Bye Mrs. Hyrule!" the children cried in union, watching as she waved and exited the room. Link then proceeded to stroll to the front of the room, where he regained control of the students.

"So, what did my significant other manage to teach you?" he asked casually enough.

"The meaning of life," responded Purple. Link gave him a look, and Purple only shrugged. "What? It _was_ inspirational!"

Link heaved a sigh, looking incredibly stressed from what went down at the meeting, but he suddenly felt something tugging at his arm. His blue gaze rolling down, he found out it was Damien, who only smiled up encouragingly back at him. Touched by the gesture, Link smiled back, ruffling his son's hair and returning his focus to the class.

"Kids…can I ask you a question?" he finally asked, and all ears perked up upon hearing this.

"We're the students- isn't that our job?" snickered Starlos, spinning the propeller on his cap absentmindedly.

"Hey, I think this could be serious," Angelina pointed out, noticing the grave look on Link's face.

Zelda drew her sword and held it alongside her as she asked, "What's up, Daddy?"

Link grimaced a bit, rubbing the back of his neck disgruntledly. Finally he took a breath and managed to ask, "Kids…do you feel like you're falling apart?"

The students looked curiously amongst themselves, then turned to Link and said no.

"Not at all," Damien replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Why do you ask?" wondered Marcus.

Link just shook his head and waved it off. "No, no…don't worry about it. It's just related to something that was brought up at the meeting today, that's all. For class today, I want you guys to fine tune your skills for the Power Ball match."

Cue groan.

"Are we going to be doing that all day?" asked Tenn, stretching her arms over her head. "There's not much I can improve on."

She shot a killer glance at Ninty, who looked absolutely disgusted in turn.

"Hey," Link intervened, coming between the two. "It'll help to make sure your combat balance is up to snuff, even if only physical and special attacks are allowed."

"Whatever you say, Hero," Tenn shrugged, twirling around and created a ball of lightning in her palm. The rest of the class seemed to teeter off and begin to do their own things…with one of those things unfortunately being Lulu and Angelina dragging Zelda for some much cheerleading practice. Pink just chuckled and started to join them, but was suddenly cut off by Purple.

"Hey, wait-"

"Oh, now you want to talk to me," Pink huffed, marching past him to try and join her friends. Purple rolled his eyes and stepped in front of her.

"Are you still mad that we eavesdropped?"

"_And _got in trouble with Red!" Pink exclaimed, throwing up her arms. "Darn it, Purple, by doing that, you're lowering yourself down to Ninty's level! I don't know what's up with that kid, and the only reason I would ever want to know is if it has anything to do with Tenn's strange behavior, and I already know that her brother's got her driven up the wall, but that doesn't mean I want to start invading privacy!"

Purple's hands found themselves in their pockets. "Well, sorry that I'm just trying to keep people I care about safe. He took out five of us at once with nothing more than a blink of an eye, and I happened to be one of the people to experience it! I don't want anyone else to go through that, and even if you stand in my way, I'll do it anyway!"

"Please, Purple, stay out of trouble!" Pink pleaded, looking desperate. "There's no reason for us to interfere because-"

"Because _why_?" Purple snapped, narrowing his eyes. "He's not hurting anybody? He hurt me and my friends! What if he goes after Damien, or Tenn, or even you next? I don't want to be there when it happens, so I'm making sure it won't happen."

"Fine, you do that," Pink muttered, turning and marching away. "But I want no part of it. I'm going back to my best friends now so we can finish our cheering technique. They probably need Espeon right about now…"

Pink sashayed off, with Purple pulling his cap over his face and grumbling, "I thought I was your best friend."

Pink froze for a moment, stunned by the statement. Purple thought she was going to turn around, but instead she started to run, calling out to Angelina.

"…she's really mad at me, then," he muttered with a sigh. "If only I could prove that Ninty is bad news…"

"Um, Purple, is it?"

Purple blinked and turned around, finding Luke approaching him with his notebook and pencil.

"Yeah, that's me. You're that other new kid who showed up today," Purple responded, sticking his thumbs in his pockets. "What's your name again?"

"Luke Triton," Luke replied, tipping his blue hat. "I've been meaning to ask you about something, but I haven't had the chance until now…"

"What of?"

"Ninty," Luke uttered under his breath, nudging his head toward the psychic, who was leaning against the wall and watching his sister far too intently. Purple caught the problem as well and he frowned. "I saw him use his abilities on you this morning…what exactly happened?"

"He has this ability called PK Neutralize, I believe," Purple explained, grimacing at the memory. "When he uses it, it drains the energy out of anyone within range, and knocks them out for several minutes. I don't even think he was using the full extent of his power when he used it on us…it was almost like Tabuu's Off Waves…"

"Tabuu?" Luke inquired, pulling his head up from his notebook. "What's that?"

"It was a 'who', actually," Purple smirked. "He used to be the principal of Villain Prep, but it turns out that he was only using the position to get close to the teachers in Hero High, who had defeated him in the past, using his own faculty and students as pawns to do so. It was pretty sick, to be honest. That was on the very first day of school too."

Luke furiously scribbled the info down. "But the Off Waves; what are those?"

"Tabuu's main form of attack- He had these huge rainbow wings made from subspace energy or something outrageous, and whenever he waved them, everyone within range would be completely knocked out…he managed to take out the entire faculty just by doing that, and they were out cold for a long time. The other students at the time and I had to fend him off."

"Sounds like a powerful ability indeed," Luke finalized, closing the notebook. "If Ninty's using something of that magnitude against his fellow students, there could be something...that he's hiding, perhaps?"

"My thoughts exactly," murmured Purple. "But I can't get any information out of Tenn, who refuses to say anything about him but keeps giving me cryptic sayings-"

"Maybe I can talk to her- I'm good at solving riddles," Luke said with a small smile.

"Maybe, but no one besides Tenn and maybe the other people who were neutralized would believe us…."

"Alph and Future Team Star Fox will help us," Luke explained. "We've already talked about it, and they're concerned too, so if you need anything, just tell them I sent you. If there's an impending threat in Hero High, I'm certain we'll stamp it out!"

"You're all right, kid," Purple finally stated, holding out the hand with his watch on it. "I think you and I can work together."

"You're not exactly the kind of crowd I hang out with, but there's a first time for everything," Luke chuckled, taking his hand and shaking it. "Can't judge a book by its cover, I suppose."

"Yeah, but in Ninty's case, the cover makes me want to read, if you know what I mean…"

Luke laughed at that, although the bell ringing interrupted their newfound partnership. Purple grimaced at the bell, turning back to Luke.

"We'll pick up this discussion the next hour that we have each other," he explained, walking off.

"Wait, we all don't have the same classes next hour?" Luke asked, following behind him. Purple shook his head.

"Nope- fifth and sixth hours have multiple classes to 'sharpen our individual talents'. We might not see each other again until seventh hour, but we'll find out when Pink passes out our new schedules…"

At his mentioning of Pink's name, Purple twitched slightly, but shook it off and bid Luke a quick goodbye. Luke just blinked in response, but didn't have time to make anything of it, as Marcus and Alph had swooped in and started blathering on what they had accomplished that hour.

**Fourth Period, Badness Basics-**

If Darcy wasn't seething with rage before, she certainly was now.

Peri and Penji sat off to the right of the room, with Ryker, Steelo, and Dash on the left. The rest of the class was crowded around Connor in the front of the room, and seeing that made Darcy want to bare her fangs, unsheathe her claws, and just go buck wild on everything and everyone in the room.

Plus, her stomach was growling out in utter protest as well, but that was out of hunger rather than unbridled rage. Dash saw her writhing in fury and quietly motioned her over to the group he was currently at, and with a glare locked onto Connor and his friends, Darcy sternly made her way over.

Meanwhile, Connor was going over some strategy with Junior, Penelope, and Holle. Holle was leaning in a little too close for Zeborah's liking, and she could've bore holes into the back of Junior's skull with how hard she was staring. Eventually, she snapped her fingers, a purple flame igniting on her index finger, and she flicked it off, causing it to hit Junior smack in the tail.

"AAAAAARRRGH!" the Koopa Prince yelped, springing out of his seat like a bottle rocket and scrambling around. "Those bad nightmares of becoming my father are coming true!"

He ran around in frenzied circles, trying to cool off the flame on his tail. Steelo's group snickered slightly while Penji conjured up an ice cube and threw it at Junior. This cooled him right off, and now left him shivering violently in the back of the room. Zeborah dragged him to a desk in the back, pushing him into it, and took a seat beside him.

"Well?"

The look Junior gave Zeborah couldn't have been more murderous.

"What the Lakitu do you mean 'well'?!" Junior hissed, fire spewing out of his mouth. "I was in the middle of talking to Connor and Holle and you attempt to barbeque my tail, and now I'm freezing to the core! What do you want from me, woman?!"

"You promised you'd help keep Connor away from Holle!" Zeborah exclaimed, her killer eyes going wide. "You know _that _is going on and you're not doing anything about it!"

"I said I would help prevent them from going beyond a 'just a friend' status," Junior huffed. "I can't severe their connections completely- no one has the right to do that. I can't even completely prevent them from possibly becoming an item anyway."

"…we're evil! We're not supposed to freaking care about those consequences!" the Gerudo princess shrieked, throwing her flaming arms in the air. "For crying out loud, your dad stands in the way between Peach and Mario every stinking day and you have the nerve to preach to me about what's right in the world of love?"

"…ouch," sniffed Junior, shaking his head. "Way to hit below the belt, Zeborah."

"Well, I-"

"He's already made it clear he's not that interested," Junior continued to scathe, folding his arms. "Not saying that he won't ever want a girlfriend, but maybe he's not ready yet and you don't even need to worry about Holle. Despite all this…'tension' between you two, you're still friends, and you still need to respect his wishes. It's a new semester, and he's got a lot on his plate right now, and he doesn't need anything else stressing him out. I mean, Darcy's already got that covered, am I right?"

Zeborah stared at Junior for a very long time, slowly raising an eyebrow.

"…by the Goddesses, when did you get so wise? Last I checked you were an annoying spoiled brat."

"Says you," Junior stated confidently. "I'm trying to avoid the mistakes my dad made, you know. I don't want to grow up _completely_ incompetent."

Before Zeborah could get in a remark edgewise, the fourth hour teacher finally marched into the room…er, well, his lackey marched into the room, with the teacher himself sitting upon a throne on said lackey's back.

"Sorry for the lateness, students," he began, hopping off and plopped into the seat at his desk. "My servant here was a little slow going, if you know what I mean."

"Sorry, sire!" the servant wheezed, taking one last gasp of air before careening onto the ground. King Dedede shook his head and waved it off.

"Don't worry about it, Waddle Dee."

Penelope casually raised her hand, and Dedede nodded his head in her direction.

"Yes, girl whose name I don't know yet?"

"My name is Penelope," she grumbled, twirling a finger in one of her pigtails. "And I was just wondering what this class was about."

"Well, little lady," Dedede replied, propping his feet on this desk. "This is Badness Basics, where I provide you fine young delinquents with the building blocks of becoming fine villains."

"That's Dedede talk for 'Evil Psychology'," Holle explained. "Personally, this is my favorite class. We actually learn this period."

Cue gasp.

"Anyway," Dedede continued, glancing at Peri, Steelo, and Ryker. "Who are the rest of these new faces?"

"Well, my name is Peri," the ice-type trainer introduced, adjusting her glasses. "I'm friends with your son here."

"It's true, Pa!" Penji cried, eyes filled with excitement. "She trains Ice-type Pokemon, and I got to see them in action this morning!"

"Yes, when she unfortunately lost to my greatness," Steelo interrupted with a sinister snicker, and Peri inadvertently growled. He turned to Dedede and tipped his hat. "Name's Steelo, if you must know. I'm a far superior Pokemon Trainer."

Penji frowned as Peri turned away and stuck her nose in the air.

"Don't ask about the creep in the corner, though," hummed Holle. "His name's Ryker, and that's about all you'll get out of him."

Dedede turned to the orange-eyed kid in the corner, who only gave him a sickening smile in return. Dedede blinked and quickly turned to his papers.

"Well, it appears I had a lesson on 'justified evil misconduct' today…but I'm really out of sorts today, I'm afraid."

This took the majority of the class by surprise, as Dedede was always incredibly eager to teach and pass on any knowledge to anyone who would listen to him, and seeing him so dejected was a bit startling.

"…what's wrong, Dedede?" asked Dash. Dedede was silent for a few critical moments before finally sighing and hanging his head.

"Nothin' you kids need ta be worried 'bout," the king mumbled nearly incoherently. "Although, I suppose I could ask yer opinions on the game tonight. How pumped are you guys about it?"

"I want to blow everyone's heads off if that match is even mentioned again," Darcy snarled, and Ryker put on an impressed look.

"Wow. I think I might take a liking to someone after all!"

Steelo nodded with consideration as well while Dash just coughed and scooted nonchalantly away from the group. Peri glared in all their directions and turned to King Dedede with far too much poise.

"Well, I for one am very excited to play. It may be my first time, but I have enough faith in my Pokemon to believe that we'll pull ahead!"

"Despite her confidence, it'll be me that'll pull the team to its victory," interrupted Steelo. "After all, my Pokemon are trained to perfection, and their sterling steel coats will reflect in the trophy we win tonight!"

"Just when I thought Marcus had an ego…" Dash hissed under his breath, shaking his head.

"To be perfectly honest, though…" Holle intervened, spinning her staff high over her head. "….I don't think we're gonna win. We don't really stand a chance."

"I'll second that," added Junior from the back, raising his hand. "After all, they mopped the floor with us when we invaded their school on the first day. Imagine the magnitude of damage they could do to us in a Power Ball match!"

Dedede was surprised to hear such talk from the students, Junior especially, but before he could make a comment, Zeborah suddenly stood up and flounced to the front of the room, facing the crowd with a fierce look on her face.

"We haven't even had the match yet and you're spewing out quitter talk? Unfathomable!" she exclaimed, unsheathing her swords and setting them on fire. "You act like we're not capable of fighting when we totally are! We have all sorts of things that put us off from the norm- things that prevent us from becoming generic! Hero High, the problem is…they're being molded to be just like the ones that came before them."

Her eyes sparked with fire as a grin crossed her face.

"We're not. We have the freedom to be whoever the heck we want to be when we get out of here. We don't even have to stay evil if we don't want to. We have that option. They don't…and in the end, that's what'll make us stronger than them." She pointed one of her swords at Dedede. "He taught us that, and even if we do lose the game tonight, it won't be the end of the world, because we'll get the last laugh, am I right?"

Silence, until Penji burst out sobbing with "That was so beautiful!"

"Besides," Zeborah continued with a shrug and a wink in Connor's direction. "We shouldn't lose because Connor devised a fail proof, winning strategy for us, so what can possibly go wrong?"

She noticed the small smile that appeared on Connor's face, while the likes of Junior, Dash, Penji, and even Penelope started applauding. Holle gave Penelope a strange look for a few moments, but then she started hooting and hollering herself. Darcy looked so mad she could've spat, while Ryker and Steelo seemed particularly uninterested.

"Huh…" trailed Peri, turning to Penji. "I never would've thought of it like that."

"That's why going to school with people from other worlds is so much fun!" Penji exclaimed with a bright expression. "You're exposed to so many different points of view…it's like gaining a new outlook on life every day!"

"They don't call this 'evil psychology' for nothing," sighed Dedede happily, looking satisfied. "Maybe I should rename this class that soon…"

"Duh," huffed Holle, rolling her eyes. "We've only been saying that since Day One, you know."

"Yes, but when I first agreed to teach this class, I had something else in mind…" Dedede retorted in Holle's direction. "…but you lot have made me rethink my ways. Being evil isn't as bad as people think."

"Are we even really bad to begin with…?" Peri asked under her breath, glancing around her classmates. She didn't have time to actually formulate a solid thought on the topic, as the bell had rung, and the majority of the class bid Dedede farewell, and Dedede wished them luck on the game later. Blinking, Peri scooped up her things and left for the hall, Penji quickly catching up to her.

"So, how's you like my Pa's class?"

"Well, we didn't exactly learn anything new today…" Peri trailed, adjusting her glasses. "But judging by his attitude, I think I'm going to like it very much. I enjoy a class that makes you really think about the important questions, you know?"

"Yeah," Penji nodded. "I understand. I kinda like learning about more than just how to be bad…there's more to life than that."

"Agreed," stated Peri, closing her eyes. "I just think that- ACK! ACK!"

Penji legit screamed as Peri suddenly worked herself into a violent coughing fit, throwing herself against the lockers to keep herself away from Penji. The poor penguin prince froze up in fear, not knowing what to do at all, but after several antagonizing moments of coughing and shaking violently, Peri eventually pulled herself together.

"…are you all right, Peri?" Penji asked nervously, meticulously picking up the things that Peri had thrown into the air during her fit. Peri nodded slowly, silently accepting her things that Penji passed to her.

"…yes, I'm fine," Peri assured, once her breathing regulated again. "…did anyone else see that?"

"No," Penji stated, looking around. "They all hurried to the next class, though I don't know why- it's Ridley's class, and he freaks everyone out."

"Good, good," Peri said between uneven pants, using Penji to hold herself steady. "I'm good, I just need to relax on the way to class…"

"Are you sure about that? I mean, I can go get my pa-"

"NO!" Peri shrieked, looking hysterical. "Don't…there's nothing that can be done. Don't bother telling anyone; nothing ever works anyway…"

Peri started walking down the hallway, dejectedly clutching her books to her torso. Penji was slackjawed for a few moments, but he trotted after her, calling out at the same time.

"Peri, wait!"

She halted, not turning around. Penji stopped too, sadly shaking his head.

"Peri…how long have you been sick?"

An unsettling silence, then-

"All my life, I'm afraid…" Peri whispered, but Penji heard her. "I always have trouble breathing, I'm nearly blind, and I'm always so cold…but for some reason, being with my Pokemon makes me feel warmer, despite the fact they're Ice types…"

She turned around, a ghost of a smile on her face.

"They make me warmer…just like you."

Penji smiled now, stepping into stride with her. As long as she was happy, Penji was willing to do anything…but he also hated to see her suffer.

. . .

Meanwhile, almost on the other side of the school already, Zeborah was walking with Junior to class, strangely quiet after using all of her energy to host her own miniature pep assembly. Junior was more interested with finishing his Anti-Anger Management homework, so he wasn't up for conversation anyway.

"Zeborah, hold up!"

Zeborah froze, glancing over to see Connor walking up to her in a dignified manner.

"That was an excellent speech you gave last hour. I never would've taken you for the sort to be inspirational."

Zeborah blushed madly, but turned away and shrugged casually. "Oh, you know, I probably get it from my father. He is very convincing when he wants to be."

"True," Connor stated, falling into step with her. "But…do you really think my plan is fail proof?"

Zeborah stopped again, raising an eyebrow in Connor's direction. "Of course I do. And so does everyone else. Is that even really a question? You're you! You're so smart you can build things out of thin air, and you're questioning how valid a game plan of your own creation is?"

"I know, I know- you're probably right," Connor huffed, brushing his bangs out of his face. Zeborah almost fainted. "It's just…not everyone thinks I'm perfect like you. What if Darcy has a point and this may be the one thing I have…flaws in. What if my plan causes our defeat at the game tonight? I'll never hear the end of it…"

"Well," Zeborah began, twirling one of her swords between her fingers. "If the likes of Darcy or any one of her crazy crew has a problem with it, I can always cut them down to size… or you can just blast them with fudge with the CAVAW."

"I guess you're correct in that aspect," Connor stated, actually smiling for once.

"Smart guys like you don't have room for what if," Zeborah continued as she started to walk again. "They only have room for possibilities."

"…well said," Connor returned with a nod, and Zeborah was so happy that she literally had to swallow the inner squeal she was building up. However, out of the corner of her eye, she caught Holle approaching, and Zeborah instantly snapped at Junior.

"This better be important, because I'm trying to figure out what to do when someone steals the last cookie!" Junior exclaimed.

"The bat is approaching the red barn, and way too quickly!" Zeborah yelped, with Connor leaning over and giving her the mother of all confused looks.

"…I thought we weren't going with code!" yelped Junior.

"JUST. DO. SOMETHING."

"Argh," Junior huffed, not even looking as he whipped his paintbrush over his shoulder, sending a rather large splotch of paint onto the floor of the hall. Zeborah dragged Connor out of the way and nearly heaved him to the next class, while the unsuspecting Holle chased after them…and ending up stepping on the puddle of paint.

"What the hell-"

Her high heels lost traction instantly, slipping all over the floor and sending Holle into the air, performing a perfect backflip, except she was destined to land flat on her back. Screaming and flailing, Darcy and her crew approached snickering, but just before Holle hit the ground, someone had caught her, pulling her from the paint spill and into safety.

"Who has the utter _nerve_ to touch m-" Holle began, until she found herself staring right into Ryker's blistering orange eyes. Darcy in the background just blew a raspberry and stalked off with Steelo and Dash.

"Lame. I wanted to see her fall."

"By the Gods, she's asking for a dark place in eternity," Holle hissed, wrenching out of Ryker's grasp and glaring down the hall. "Junior's going to get a piece of my mind too…if Connor hadn't been so distracted by Zeborah-"

"Uh, you're welcome," Ryker snapped, glaring down at the Goddess. "Maybe I _should've_ let your skull crack on the linoleum."

"Jeez, sorry for not instantly expressing my gratitude," Holle sniffed, dusting herself off. "You're the last person I expected to come to the rescue, though. You're one of the most evil people in this school, and that's saying something."

Ryker raised an eyebrow. "How can you judge how evil I am?"

"Easy; I'm the Goddess of the Afterlife, and I have to decide whether people deserve a blissful eternity or not. Unfortunately, everywhere I go, I see people's auras, and I can tell whether or not they're lying about their alignment."

"If that's true…" Ryker said, interest piqued. "…then why is my aura so dark?"

"It's not that dark, really," Holle said with a shrug. "Then again, I don't know much about you other than that you're a complete psychopath. Most people in this school are actually just neutral rather than evil…but since Hero High is for 'pure heroes' only, some of them got dumped over here."

Ryker mumbled several things under his breath, Holle ceasing the conversation and walking away. However, she realized Ryker wasn't following her, and she called out to him.

"Hey, Creep," she stated, turning around. "Aren't you coming to class?"

"I'll show up eventually," Ryker shrugged, hands behind his head and stalking off. "I'd rather not be there for most of next hour…see ya later, Hel."

Holle went "Wah…?" for a few moments, before shaking it off and leaving without him.

"What an anti-social freak…though, he did talk to me, but why? I'm not nearly_ that_ special…" Holle grunted, nearing the next class. "Still, skipping class, mysterious nature, can't figure him out for the life of me…it's kind of attractive. And also probably dangerous."

* * *

**The next chapter is one of my favorites in this whole story, so I am excited. :D **


End file.
